The Road is Long
by Scouse
Summary: As Leon and Vince wrap up selling off the garage, house and shop in L.A Dom, Letty, Mia and Jesse venture down to Mexico, to safety. Will everything go down smoothly...? I don't think so!
1. Chapter 1: The Long and Winding Road

I know this is very short but it's kinda just an idea at the mo. I hope to do some longer chapters and the next few are concerning the Team's arrival in Mexico and Leon, Vince and Brian are scheduled to make an appearance at a later date (will also explain where they are!). Please tell me if this is terrible or if you think its okay! I'd like to know what other Fast and the furious fans think seeing as this is my first FatF fanfic! Thankies!

As much as I loooove the Fast and the Furious I own nothin'. Zip! Not a sausage, except for maybe some own characters later on!

Chapter 1: The Long and Winding Road.

Letty's dark eyes stared out at the barren, rocky countryside that flashed past the car as it sped down the lonely road. The desolate red-gold plains stretched as far as the eye could see on either side of the single, dead-straight tarmac track until it met with the navy blue, diamond studded sky. Though it was the dead of night a hot breeze streamed in through her open window, sending her dark hair dancing about her shoulders and keeping the other three occupants of the car from boiling to death. She, however, was no stranger to the heat.

Letty twisted briefly in her seat to see Mia and Jesse asleep in the back, mouths agape and gasping the scorching air into their lungs. Jesse was still recovering from his encounter with Johnny Tran, his injured arm cradled against his body via a sling and his face a mass of healing bruises and scratches. He slept peacefully for the time being, his forehead lolling against the glass of the window, the nightmares that usually plagued his mind for once forgotten.

Mia on the other hand, slept fitfully curled into a small, protective ball and clasping her knees to her chest desperately. Tears were fresh on the young girl's sleep flushed cheeks and Letty leaned over to wipe them away gently. She'd had too much sorrow in her young life already and Letty felt the overwhelming desire to protect her from any more heartache. She rested her hand on Mia's warm cheek for a few seconds longer before twisting back to face forwards and return her gaze to the endless road before them that dissolved into pitch blackness.

It was bleak. Very bleak. And in nine months time things were about to get even bleaker for the nineteen year old who Letty thought of as her sister. A child was a strain on even the most stable and well-balanced couples and Mia was about to enter the world of motherhood very soon and by herself. No, Letty corrected. She'd always have the Team. They would all manage…somehow. And if Brian ever showed his lily ass, Letty swore she would shove a torque wrench up it!

Suddenly a large, hot hand gave her knee a squeeze and she looked up to see Dom's concerned glance.

"Let, you're frownin'. S'up?" he asked in a soft, low tone so as not to wake his sleeping 'cargo'.

Letty shook her head and forced a smile onto her face. "Just thinkin'." She replied, drumming her fingers on the outside of the car door.

Dom moved his hand from her knee to the gear stick, kicking down on the clutch, releasing the accelerator and stepping the car up a gear before smoothing his large hand down the back of Letty's head to rest at the nape of her neck, buried in her soft hair.

"'Bout?" he queried, his eyes alternating between the road and her face.

Letty's sigh was enough to reveal where her thoughts lay to him. He knew her so well that simple movements, sounds or habits often spoke louder than her words. Apart from that fact his own thoughts had followed a similar path and he glanced at Mia, his baby sister, in the rear view mirror. She was barely more than a kid herself. Far too young to bring another life into their messed up world. When he and Letty had sat her down and suggested an abortion Mia had been so full of a fierce detestation for even the idea of it that she had ignored them for a full three days.

'I can't kill something that's a part of me!' she had cried. 'I can't kill my own flesh and blood even if it is barely more than a few cells at the moment!'

Dom turned his attention back to Letty and smoothed his thumb up and down the back of her neck.

"It shouldn't have happened to her, Dom! She doesn't deserve half of the shit that's been flung her way!" Letty sighed, though it came out more like a hiss. She rubbed at her pounding temples and clenched her teeth.

"Let…" he said, again soft and low. His hand found its way to her chin and he gently but firmly turned her face towards him. "C'mere." He smiled with a growl, pulling her forwards by her chin for a small, loving kiss. Though she had tasted many of Dom's kisses many times, it was those little, tender kisses that made her heart flutter and her knees feel week. She smiled and pulled away suddenly, fixing a mock scowl on her features.

"Eyes on the road, you!" she growled causing Dom to smirk and turn back to his task of driving. It wouldn't do for the King of the Streets to crash because of a…distraction, no matted how stunning that distraction was!

There was a long pause for several minutes before Letty scooted to the edge of her seat and leaned over to Dom's side of the car, eliciting a wide grin from him. He lifted his arm in invitation for her to lay her head against his chest and she did, gladly, turning her face into him, savouring the familiar odour of oil and his own natural body scent. Dom gave her bare shoulder a reassuring squeeze and planted a kiss on the top of her head, his breath tickling her scalp and sending a small tremor down her spine.

"S'gonna be okay, Letty. You'll see. I promise. For Mia, for her baby, for Jess and Leon and V…for you an' me." He kissed the top of her head again and Letty smiled into his chest. "We'll work everythin' out. Its gonna be alright."

"Yeah." She replied, her voice muffled by his body. "Yeah, I think it will."

-000000-

Well, hope someone likes out there! Any comments are tips or ideas and thoughts in general are welcomed with my wide open arms!


	2. Chapter 2: Pit Stop

Well, chapter 2. It's a little longer than the first one. Hope it's still okay. Any ideas or suggestions that anyone has would be appreciated. Also I'm not really up to scratch on my cars (more of a boat person meself) so if I totally screw up on the car info then don't shoot me. I'm gonna try an do some research or something for later on so I don't look too thick. Oh, and please bear with me, I'm having a hard job writing America (being a British girl born and bred!) so if there are any problems with places, place names etc then please, please tell me and I'll try my bestest to correct them!

Thankies go to **Nosaparra** and **GoSpeedGrrrl **for your lovely reviews! Hope this next chappie is okay!

Super Duper! Chapter 2! Yay! Thankies for reading!

Gem

Xxx

Chapter 2: Pit Stop.

The sun had yet to venture up into the sky, though pale grey blue morning was slowly seeping up from the horizon. It wouldn't be long before another day unleashed it's blazing fury upon the beat up Ford Mustang and it's passengers. For the present, though, Dom was content to drive in the cool air of the pre-dawn, heading for the spec on the ever lightening horizon-line that suggested that there was a petrol station or rest stop. It was the first that they had come across in over a hundred miles and the muscles in Dom's neck were beginning to protest at his head's constant uprightness. An hour or so stop wouldn't put too much time onto their journey.

Letty had fallen asleep miles ago, resorting to cradling his large hand in both of hers when her previous position had proved too uncomfortable to maintain. He smiled, glancing over at her peaceful face and carefully disentangled his fingers from where they were locked with hers. His smile widened as she frowned and made an irritated noise of protest to the removal of his warmth and then stirred, squinting one eye open at him.

He chuckled and turned his eyes back to the road. Right after their last heist Letty had been furious with him. For putting the Team in danger. For almost losing Vince and Jesse. For almost losing _her_. He shuddered every time he recalled the wreck her car had been after it had flipped. She had been lucky, no thanks to him.

Yes, Letty had been livid. She'd gone home and thrown the entire contents of his wardrobes out of their bedroom window and onto the front lawn for all of their neighbours to see and then locked him out. For three nights Dom had slept on the sofa in the garage and his back still wasn't completely recovered. But then on the fourth night, when he had all but given up hope that she would forgive him, she had gone to him in the garage. Not said a word. Simply loved him then and there on the office floor like they had so many times since she had turned sixteen. It had been Letty's way of showing her forgiveness, of renewing their love, of reuniting their separate Team that had only the two of them as members.

Dom grinned and slowed the car down, pulling into the parking area of the petrol station. The break pads gave a high pitched moan of protest at the abrasion against the tyres and the car came to a gentle halt.

"Time is it?" Letty queried in a sleep contorted mutter, scrubbing her knuckles into her eyes to banish the last vestiges of sleep. She yawned wide and Dom planted a kiss on her forehead before replying.

"It's a little after four."

They sat in silence for a few moments before Letty shifted to stretch out her tense muscles and attempt to scratch at her shoulder blades.

"Thought we'd stop for somethin' to eat." Dom announced stepping from the car and shaking out the stiffness in his legs. "Gotta call ahead to my cousins as well. Let 'em know when we're likely to crash on 'em."

Letty nodded and followed Dom out of the car. She leaned her elbows on the roof that bowed beneath the weight and made a metallic popping sound and glanced across at him. "You want me to drive for a bit while you catch a few Zs?" her voice left little room for argument and Dom had long since stopped trying to turn down one of Letty's suggestions when she was in her authoritative frame of mind. He simply nodded and smirked at his own obedience. As Vince would say, he was most definitely 'under the thumb'! Letty had had him wrapped around her little finger since she had been four years old and he eight and at 20 and 24 nothing had changed that.

"I'm gonna go use the phone, 'kay?" Dom asked bringing himself out of his thoughts and Letty muttered her agreement from where she had moved to Mia's door. She opened it as quietly as possible as Dom moved away towards the small shop.

"Mi?" she asked softly, brushing the usually immaculate black hair from her sleeping face. "Mia, c'mon. You want somethin' to eat? Huh?"

Mia stirred and opened her eyes and for a split second Letty saw the confident, cheerful girl that she had been before their circumstances had taken a nose dive. Then her dark eyes that were so much like Dom's, dulled and she shakily pushed her way out of the car. A few wobbling steps further, she wretched and stumbled to her knees. Letty was beside her in an instant, holding her hair back and away from the vomit that spewed onto the dusty ground.

"S'okay, Mia. It'll be okay." Letty soothed, rubbing the younger girl's back with her free hand comfortingly, repeating the words and actions that Mia had so often used when Letty had come home dog-sick from a night of partying. "Just let it all come out and you'll feel better."

Mia stayed there for long minutes until all that she was spitting up was saliva and then allowed Letty to drag her to a nearby dusty verge where dieing grass clumped together in sparse patches. She lay back, unable to protest, sweat cooling on her hot face and matting her already scruffy hair together.

"I'm so stupid, Let." She cried softly, still shaking and curled towards Letty's embrace.

"C'mon, girl. Things aren't so bad." she said in an attempt to quell the despairing sobs. She rubbed Mia's back and shoulders again glanced up as Dom reappeared. Concern darkened his gaze but Letty shook her head, signalling for him to leave them alone for the moment. Dom nodded once and opened the other back passenger door causing Jesse to jolt awake.

"Shit, Dom! A little warning next time, man!"

Letty sent a seething glare to both Dom and Jesse that sent them moving swiftly towards the safety of the café.

"I feel so stupid…" Mia repeated, more to herself than Letty. She sat up and swiped furiously at the tears that fell from her eyes. "I really dropped everyone in the shit this time, huh, Let?" her laugh was self-derisive.

"C'mon, Mia. Think about it. Sure it's gonna be a struggle, but kids always are, no matter when or where you have them." Letty paused to wipe fresh tears from Mia's cheeks. "But you got a helluva lot of things to look forwards to. Just think! In nine months time you're gonna have a beautiful baby, Mi, and you'll look down at him or her and fall in love with that little life that you created."

Mia calmed down tremendously and took deep tremulous breaths to steady her still shaking body. Letty knocked her shoulder into Mia's gently and grinned.

"We'll put Dom and the boys on shitty nappy duty and night time feeding. We can have all the fun jobs like playing with Baby Toretto and dressing her and buying her clothes. Shit like that."

Mia grinned and for the first time glanced up at Letty. She gave one final sniff and Letty saw a spark of the girl's former self ignite deep within the brown depths of her eyes.

"I'm having a girl then?" she queried and Letty snorted in mock incredulity.

"Of course! No way are you havin' a boy just so he can grow up like Dom, Jesse, Leon and Vince!"

they fell silent for a long time simply sitting side by side and Mia linked her hand together with Letty's feeling the older girl, who she loved like a sister, squeeze back in return.

"We're all gonna be there for you, Mia. We wouldn't let you do this damn thing alone."

"Thanks, Letty." Mia replied with a breathless smile. Her words no longer despairing. "For making me feel better. I'm glad you came with us."

Letty grinned wickedly and stood, dusting down the seat of her combat pants.

"Yeah, well, your brother thinks more with his balls than his brains. I gotta make sure no skanks are muscling in on my man!"

That made Mia laugh and she stood brushing down her own pants in a gesture mirroring Letty's. Letty laughed too, more than she had in years and the pair stood clutching their sides and stomachs as they ached from laughter and tears of joviality instead of sorrow rolled down their faces.

-00000-

Yay! Chapter 2 is finished. The next one should have some of our lovely Vince in it! Double yay!


	3. Chapter 3: Catching up with Coyote

Hellooooo again! Chapter 3 is here and ready to be…well…read! (Ignore me I'm in a funny mood! Deadlines and such frying my brain!) Hope this chapter isn't too much of a let down, but if there are any mistakes or such just tell me and I'll fix 'em (Gem'll fix it!). Oh, yeah forgot last time. Don't own 'em. Would love to but don't.

**Jada91**Thankies for commenting and here is a little bit o' Vince! Hope it's not too un-Vince like!

**Nosaparra: **Hello again and thankies for coming back!

**Pips24: **Heres that update, hope you like!

**eli: **Thankies! I wanted to try and get a strong relationship going between Mia and Letty coz it has to do with something later on…

**Lou: **Yay! Rule Britania (or not…) Thakies for popping by, always nice to have a fellow Brit about! Tea and scones all around!

Chapter 3: Catchin' up with Coyote.

Jesse glanced over at where Letty and Mia stood laughing as if they would never laugh again, clutching to each others shoulders and their stomachs.

"I really don't get women." He muttered, sipping at his cola with his uninjured arm. "One minute they're all crying and then the next they're, they're-" he gave a frustrated gesture, with the arm in his sling, towards the direction of the two girls when he couldn't find the right word, making him look like he was flapping a wing.

"You never will understand 'em, Kiddo. Never." Dom sighed from behind him, also glancing out at his sister and girlfriend. "They _still_ goin' at it? What's it been? Twenty minutes?!"

Jesse nodded and made a noise of affirmation before taking another great glug of icy liquid, the small bubbles fizzing and popping, making his throat sting and eyes water.

Dom shook his head and gave an amused snort before making his way back towards the payphone. "Keep an eye on 'em, Jess. I'm gonna call in at the garage for news while they're busy."

Jesse waved a hand absent-mindedly in Dom's direction, already concentrating on something entirely different.

-00000-

Vince let the phone ring a few times before dragging himself from beneath his car and sauntering towards the office, wiping his dirty hands on the seat of his jeans and leaving finger-length streaks of oil in their wake. He lifted the phone's corded handset and wedged it to his ear with his left shoulder, continuing to clean the filth from his knuckles with a just as grimy rag.

"Toretto's?" he grunted, concentrating on a particularly stubborn oil stain with a frown.

"No wonder we don't got a buyer for the garage, with manners like yours!" the deep, familiar voice of Vince's long time friend and partner-in-crime sounded in his ear, crackling with static every so often.

"Hey, Dom!" Vince replied, brightening slightly. He didn't question Dom's sole-minded mission to get Letty, Mia and Jesse out of L.A. and harms way, but he had to admit that things just simply weren't the same without them around. "Missin' y'all, Dawg!"

Dom's laugh crackled over the telephone line in a burst of white-noise.

"Aw, V! Didn't know you cared." came Dom's sarcastic reply. "Sorry, Dawg, I'm on strict orders from Let not to associate with any skanks!"

"Dude! You callin' me a whore?!" Vince barked and Dom's laughter crackled louder. "I look after your garage, agree to watch it until you got a buyer and this is how you repay me?! By callin' me a male prostitute?!" Vince growled, feigning anger.

"I didn't say nothin' 'bout male…" Dom let his latest quip lie and Vince scowled though he knew Dom couldn't see him.

After a long pause Dom chuckled again. "Dude, I'm yankin' your chain!"

"I knew that!" Vince snapped in return but couldn't help a smile from creeping onto his face. He missed bickering and bantering with Dom and Jesse. He missed teasing Letty. Mostly he missed Mia. "So, y'all there yet? Y'all safe 'n shit?"

"We're all fine." Dom replied. "Mia was a little sick on the way but Letty reckons that's normal for her…condition."

They paused again and Vince's thoughts wandered to the man responsible for her so called 'condition'. Brian O'Connor, who had gained their trust only to have it turn out that he was a cop set on hauling their asses to the slammer. And to add insult to injury he had…Vince swallowed hard, forcing his thoughts to continue down the track that they were taking. He had taken advantage of Mia. Beautiful, sweet, caring Mia who was now sprogged up and most definitely up shit creek without a paddle.

"V, s'okay, man. She's fine. We're gonna take real good care of her." Dom said quietly, sensing his friend's sombre thoughts. "You can see to that too when you hurry up an' sell the pissing garage and get your ass down here!"

Vince forced a laugh and leaned back against the office wall, thrusting his free hand into his jeans pocket. "You gotta talk to Leon 'bout sales, Dawg. He deals with all the prospective buyers an' crap. You know how Lee can sweet talk anythin' on two legs and even some of the four-legged variety when the fancy takes him!"

Dom's laugh was raucous and Vince winced, moving the offending earpiece away from his aching ear.

"Yeah, yeah. What was that last ones name? Jenny? Jenna? Janice?"

"Jade." Vince supplied, with a smirk, remembering Leon's horror the morning after. At least he hadn't taken her home and had to wake up beside her but he'd been trying desperately for weeks after to remove her scent from the back seat of his car and her scratch marks from the leather seats.

"That's it. She was a stunner but as bitchy as they come, man! And as fake! Those couldn't have been real!"

Vince laughed at Dom's exclamation but stopped as he heard a familiar voice in the background. He listened carefully. Letty. It was definitely Letty. Only she could get away with calling Dom such profane names.

"…no, Let. V was talkin' about that chick Leon had last. Y'know, Jade? The redhead?"

Vince smirked as Dom was cut off and he caught most of what Letty was saying.

"…don't you fucking dare even think about anyone's tits unless they're mine! Got it?!"

Vince's laugh drowned out Dom's feeble response until Letty's voice blared down the phone and into his ear making him yelp out in pain and surprise.

"And don't you fucking encourage him!" Letty growled and Vince could imagine her face. Furious and strewn with loose strands of her glossy, ebony hair. He was, for once, glad that he was still up in L.A. and that she was down in Mexico, where she couldn't clip him around the head with one of her stinging cuffs.

"Sorry, Let." Vince laughed and winced in sympathy as he head a thwack and a deep throated exclamation of pain from Dom. Letty muttered something about men and their brains being in their pants before returning the phone to Dom and announcing that he was gracing the sofa with his presence that night when the arrived at his cousins' house.

"Thanks, V! I just got fucking couched 'cause of you!" Dom snarled and Vince laughed again.

"Sorry, Dawg. I'll take the wrap when I get down there."

"Yeah, yeah…" Dom muttered with a sigh. "I'll call you again in a few days time, man. Just make sure Leon uses those sweet-talkin' tendencies on some customers and not just the women."

Vince grinned widely to the phone's mouth piece. "Sure, Dom. We'll be down their sunnin' ourselves before you know it!"

Dom snorted before deigning to reply. "You ain't gonna be sunnin' yo' asses!" he growled. "You're gonna be decorating the nursery with me an' Jesse."

Vince's thoughts turned back to Mia again and he silently promised himself that he would take care of her and the baby no matter if she wanted him to or not.

"Sure, Dawg." Vince said in a soft tone, sensing that the conversation was coming to an end. "Say hi to everyone for me…'specially Mi."

"Okay, V." Dom replied with a tight tone that told Vince to remember whose sister he was talking about.

"A'ight. Catch you later, Dawg." Vince responded and waited until he heard the click on the other end as Dom replaced the phone. He gave a nostalgia induced smile and tossed the rag in his hands across the office to land slam dunk in the bin on the other side. Score! Not long until they would all be together again. Not long at all, then they could get back to normal finally.

-00000-

Phew! That one took a little while to get going! Hope it's not too bad! Comments and reviews are greatly appreciated! Thankies for reading! Please tell me what you think (good or bad). Next chappie, Vince has a surprised visitor and we meet the Toretto cousins! Yay!


	4. Chapter 4: Tran's Retribution

Just a quick chappie I wrote t'other night whilst panicking about my assessment. I know I said that chapter 4 would have Vince and Dom's cousins in it but I figured that I needed to introduce these two. They play a big part in later events…grins ominously

Happy reading! The next chap shouldn't take too long to do!

Thankies to for reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 4: Tran's Retribution.

As he moved through the large painted red gates to his Uncle's restaurant, Lance Tran had a notion of the punishment that he was about to bear. He walked with a permanent limp, favouring his right leg and wincing every time that his heel touched down on the highly polished black marble floor of the foyer.

Two men dressed in black suits stood either side of the restaurant door, their hands clasped before them and their legs slightly apart offering the guards increased balance during their long shifts. They barely acknowledged Lance as he passed them, attempting to keep his steps even and from showing his lame leg, but he felt their dark eyes boring into him with each step he took.

Inside the usually teeming restaurant the air was deathly silent. Still. Lance would have called it calm if he hadn't known why he had been summoned here, before his Uncle, Hikaru Tran.

His eyes fixed onto the figure of his Uncle who sat in a rigid backed chair facing away from Lance's entrance, drumming his fingers on the long banquet table he sat to. So intent on this small but commanding man was Lance that he barely noticed when his shining black leather shoes sunk deep into the blood red carpet that ran the length and breadth of the long hall-like room. He reached the table in a matter of seconds and dipped his head in a low, respectful bow, wincing as his still present injuries gave a twinge where his body bent at the waist. He had been hospitalised for only a single week after the 'accident', yet he was still recovering. His Uncle had discharged him from hospital early without more than a word in his direction and then he had ignored him for a further three weeks. No doubt deciding what was to be done with his impotent nephew.

Lance swallowed at the stretch of silence that had followed his gesture and raised his head slightly to glance at the back of Hikaru Tran's head. His sleek black hair was parted on the side and not a single hair was out of place nor discoloured by age.

"Uncle, I-" Lance began but a swift slicing motion of Hikaru's hand was enough to return the young man to silence.

"I did not invite you to speak." His voice was thickly accented with his Chinese heritage and sliced through the air, which had become inexplicably heavy Lance thought, with ease.

Hikaru twisted his swivelling chair about so that he was able to scrutinize his young nephew for a long, breathless moment, lacing his pale, slender fingers together.

"When my brother died," Hikaru began, tapping the tips of his fingers together. "I took you in. You and that whore of a mother that he loved so much." He paused again in both his speech and his movements. "I fed you. I clothed you. I raised you as a second son…Yet…here we are."

A hush returned to the restaurant and the wrinkles at the corners of Hikaru's mouth pulled his lips downwards into a grimace. Lance could scarcely bear to hold his Uncle's burning gaze.

"Do you know why you are here, Lance?" he asked finally, a wry smirk twisting his grimace up slightly.

"Yes, Uncle. I am here to accept my punishment for not preventing my cousin's death and-"

Hikaru's hand made another slice in the air that made Lance flinch and abandoned his answer.

"My dear, dear boy!" Hikaru gave a guttural laugh. "If I had intended to have you punished, you would be dead by now." No humour tinted Hikaru's laughter or features. He stood and strode, slowly, towards Lance, stopping inches in front of him and giving him a considering glance. He reached out his hand and took hold of Lance's chin firmly, turning the young man's face into the light in order to inspect the still visible lacerations and bruises. Lightening fast, the older man backhanded Lance across his already battered face, reopening the deep split in his lower lip. Lance tasted the salty bitterness of his own blood but resisted the urge to spit it out across the flawless crimson carpet. He flinched as his Uncle's hand returned to his face again, smoothing across the same cheek that he had assaulted seconds before.

"My dear Nephew. You are here for one purpose and one purpose only. If you succeed, I shall spare your miserable life and name you as my sole heir in the place of my beloved and sadly departed son." Hikaru strode in a large, purposeful circle about Lance as he spoke, his hands clasped at the small of his back.

Lance waited. Counted the footfalls until his Uncle was directly behind him. One..two…three…four…five…six…seven. It was on the count of seven that Lance felt the older man's fist slam into his lower back, exactly above his left kidney. He hissed and stumbled forwards onto his knees, clenching his teeth against the throbbing ache.

"If you fail…I shall punish you."

Lance squinted up as Hikaru finished his full circle and gazed down at his agonized form. Fury and madness blazed deep in Hikaru's coal black eyes and Lance feared too much not to take his Uncle's proposition.

"What…what is m-my task, Uncle?" Lance stammered, slowly regaining his breath and Hikaru's face broke out into a cold, forced smile.

"I am glad you asked, my boy." He beamed falsely, adjusting his diamond cufflinks in a dramatic flourish. Suddenly his face turned stony. "I want you to hunt down and kill all who played a part in my precious son's demise." His tone was icy and clipped and he extended his hand, palm out, to Lance who still knelt, wheezing slightly. "Do you accept?"

Lance closed his eyes tightly for a long minute before taking the waiting hand of Hikaru Tran and allowing himself to be pulled to his feet.

"Yes, Uncle. I accept." Was all he could say, was all he needed to say before Hikaru clapped and the room filled with guests and dancers and food and drink, all in bountiful quantities.

"Then tonight we shall celebrate!"

-00000-


	5. Chapter 5: Meet the Family

Well, here's chapter 5. I took a little bit longer to write this one than I did the others 'coz I was stuck in work and hardly any customers came in during my entire six hour shift (guess nobody fancied cooking themselves to a crisp on the sun-beds that day!). Finally we meet the Toretto cousins (after a little bit more Dom/Letty-ness). I know there are lots of fics out there that have Dom and Mia's cousins so I'm trying to make them different. If anybody has any ideas or comments about them then I would be very grateful!

**Jada91**Thanks, glad you liked chapter3. Was bit worried if it was okay or not.

**Nosaparra: **Thankies. Yeah, tried to get a little bit sinister with chapter4. Glad it came through.

**vettachick: **Thanks , glad you like this fic! I like the fics where Dom and Letty are still together too! I hope they have Letty in the Fast and the Furious 3!

Anywho, thankies to everyone for reviewing! And without further ado…I give you chapter 5.

Gem

Xxx

Chapter 5: Meet the Family.

After their short rest stop, Letty had taken over the task of driving from Dom. He now sat in the passenger seat beside her that she had previously occupied, feet resting on the dashboard, crossed at the ankles. His right arm pillowed his shaven head while the other was a constant, comforting weight on the back of Letty's neck. At first he had traced lazy circles there, on the nape where her spine met her neck bone, but the procedure, while meant to be therapeutic for _her_, had lulled Dom into the first truly peaceful sleep he'd had since before the last heist.

Letty flashed a glance at him, his head and right arm pressed up against the window frame, mouth slightly parted as he breathed in deep, slow and steady. A rhythm that had been Letty's sleeping companion almost every night since she had turned 16, save for the three weeks she'd ignored him following the incident with Johnny Tran's sister and Dom's two year stint in prison.

Pushing those less than favourable memories from her mind, Letty turned instead to the recollection of the first night that they had slept together. Simply slept, no sex or fooling around. She allowed a grin to flit across her features. Neither of them had been used to sharing their sleeping space or covers since Dom had been Letty's longest '_intimate_' relationship. While she'd had sex before, Dom was the first that she had ever slept with in the same bed. Similarly, Letty was the first girl Dom had ever allowed to stay in his bed beyond their amorous ministrations. That night, however, had almost been the last! They had kicked and tossed and turned and fought for the space and covers, so used to their own company. After much trial and error and hours of fraying tempers and heated words they had found that the only way either of them would get any rest was if they wrapped their arms about each other giving them something to occupy themselves with.

Letty's grin widened. Even then the peace had been short lived. Whereas Dom was a silent sleeper except for the slight breaths that escaped his lips, Letty snored like a '_dieing_' Volkswagon Beetle, in Dom's estimation. That thought made her snort to herself as she brought the car to a temporary halt at the T-junction in the road.

"Dom?" she whispered, nudging him with her elbow and trying not to disturb Mia and Jesse unnecessarily.

Dom grunted, coming out of his slumber and finally removing his hand from her neck to knuckle one eye.

"I need you to give me directions."

-00000-

The house was a lot more rundown than Dom remembered. It was a huge, detached property made entirely from wood that looked shabby and weather worn.

"This is it?" Jesse asked, his voice revealing exactly what he thought of the place.

Dom glanced at him in the rear-view mirror and gave a scowl.

"Yeah, this is it. You got a problem, Kid?"

Jesse shook his head frantically and glanced back up to the semi-derelict house. "Home sweet home, I guess…" he muttered to himself.

The middle of nowhere. Acres and acres of dry, dusty land lay between the house and the nearest town ensuring that privacy would not be a problem. It was the perfect place to lie low for a while. Until they decided what their next move was going to be and whether that move would be made together or the Team would split and go their separate ways.

Dom hadn't told anyone, not even Letty, of his fears that the Team would disintegrate before his very eyes. He wouldn't blame them if they did want to get out while the getting was good. He had caused them so many problems. With the heists, with the Trans, with the cop and now he had uprooted them from their home, their livelihood, their lives. And surprisingly they had come. No questions asked. They had come with him. For him.

Dom was brought out of his thoughts by Letty's warm hand on his shoulder.

"Dom!" she demanded, giving him a little shake as if she had been calling him for a few minutes unable to get his attention. "Snap out of it!"

Mia and Jesse had vacated the car and were stretching out stiff limbs and muscles, carefully taking in their surroundings. They looked tired, worn out. Older than the two teenagers should have looked. They should have been laughing and joking with friends, going out and having a good time, not expecting a child, not recovering from a gunshot wound and definitely not on the run!

"There you go again! Off into your own little world of worrying!" Letty exclaimed as Dom relapsed into silent contemplation. "Dom, we're here because we want to be here. We want to be with you!"

His head snapped up at the words that she spoke and he locked onto her eyes. They stared at each other for long moments, Dom attempting to determine whether she was speaking truthfully or saying things to ease his restless mind and Letty trying to convey how much she really did want to be there with him, even if the were on the run.

Finally Dom broke the silence with a snort and he threw Letty and lopsided smirk.

"You know me so well, Let. Too well!" he announced and Letty returned his smirk, fisting her hands in the front of his grubby, travel-stained T-shirt, pulling him towards her.

"You love it really." She growled claiming his lips in a crushing kiss as if to let him taste the truth on her tongue. Dom responded immediately, returning the kiss with the same ferocity, allowing himself to get swept away in Letty.

They were interrupted, too soon it seemed to both, moments later by a loud rapping on the windscreen and they jolted apart like a pair of guilty teenagers who had been caught fooling around behind the school bike sheds.

Mia's amused face looked in at them.

"Are we going in or are you two just gonna get '_jiggy'_ in there?" she enquired, attempting to stifle her laughter. Dom scowled and muttered a profane retort before opening his door and stepping out. Letty simply smirked at Mia and followed Dom from the reliable old mustang. She fell into step beside him, curling her arm about his waist and giving his backside a sharp, teasing smack, before sliding her hand down into his right back jean pocket, caressing where she had just slapped.

Dom grinned and draped his arm across Letty's shoulders, though he kept his gaze decidedly focused upon the massive house in front of them. If he glanced down at her at that moment then they wouldn't make it up the veranda steps, he would simply drag her back to the car and get extremely '_jiggy_' with her, as Mia had so eloquently and politely put it.

Quite unexpectedly the front door to the house swung open, slamming back against the wooden walls making a sharp cracking sound and a dark haired teenage girl flew out, beaming and squealing with delight. She lunged at Dom, jumping into his arms and wrapping her skinny limbs about him tightly.

Dom laughed deep and loud and crushed the 16 year old to him harder.

"This can't be my little Frankie!" he growled, peeling her off and setting her back onto the ground. "Naw! My little Frankie was knee-high to a grasshopper last time I saw her! You! You're a proper little lady! You really sprouted, Kiddo!"

The girl narrowed her olive green eyes into a mock-scowl and folded her arms across her chest.

"Very funny, Uncle Dom!" she replied, sarcastically (A/N: He's not really her uncle, she just calls him that.) and Dom laughed, ruffling her dark brown hair. "I was ten last time you came to see us. I wasn't that small!"

"You were, bambina. You were very small." came a deep voice not unlike Dom's and the group glanced back up to the veranda. "Long time no see, cuz!" the tall, older man called down with a wide grin. His black and slightly silver flecked hair was long and pulled into a loose ponytail at the base of his neck. His eyes were as deep and dark as Dom's and Mia's and a faint, stubbly goatee grew on his jaw and chin. The woman beside him sported the same long, dark hair that was left loose to hang down to her waist but her eyes shone bright amber. She grinned down at her two younger cousins and their companions.

"Been shit-busy, Tino." Dom called back finally to the man. "How ya been Donni?" his gaze flickered to the woman and her smile widened.

"Same old, same old, Dom." she shrugged.

"You gonna introduce us, or have you still not learned any manners?" Tino asked and he and Donni moved down the wooden steps towards the gathering.

Dom replied with a snort and pulled first Tino and then Donni into a warm embrace. "Sure, sure, Ti. You know Mia." He indicated his sister who moved forwards to hug her cousins also.

"You've grown, Mia." Donni acknowledged brushing the dark, unusually messy hair from the younger girl's face. "It's been too long."

Dom nodded his agreement and then moved to introduce Jesse.

"This skinny-assed punk is Jesse. He's part of the Team. Complete whiz-kid with a computer. Not too hot on the whole paying attention kick." Dom flashed Jesse a reassuring look but Jesse simply chewed on his already bitten down fingernails and gave a nervous wave with his free hand.

"And this is Letty. She's my girl." Dom finished wrapping his arm back about Letty's shoulders, subconsciously claiming his territory.

Tino gave an amused chuckle at Dom's actions before shaking Jesse's hand and kissing the back of Letty's.

"You sure know how to pick the ladies, cuz!" Tino said teasingly, still clasping Letty's hand causing her to laugh.

"Careful, Dom. I might just ditch you for your cousin. He really knows how to treat a woman!" she tormented but seeing his scowl, threw him a comforting wink.

"Yeah, yeah…" Dom growled tightening his arm about Letty's shoulders and pulling her more firmly to his chest. He knew that Tino was merely winding him up. "Just hurry up the intro, '_cuz'_!"

Tino straightened and released Letty's hand with a final alluring grin.

"I'm Tino and this is my sister, Donnatella-"

"Donni!" she interrupted irately. "I hate being called Donnatella!"

Tino rolled his eyes and continued. "And this is my daughter, Francesca. She prefers Frankie though."

"Hi." Frankie said with a brave smile. She had been quite for a long time, simply watching the exchange between the adults. Her olive green eyes flicked between Mia, Letty and finally landing on Jesse. She glanced at him with a slit-eyed scrutiny that she hadn't used on the others, taking in his chipped painted black nails, his scruffy jeans, his black T-shirt that sported a white skull and cross bones motif. He was only a few inches taller than her and they were both similarly scrawny and gangly due to their teenage growth spurts.

Jesse noted her examination and turned a wildly nervous, wide-eyed gaze to Dom for support who merely smirked in amusement. Tino, however, was a little less impressed by his daughter's attention to the scruffy young man. He coughed loudly and deliberately drawing her awareness to him.

"So." he said scanning the faces of those around him. "Guess ya'll better come in then."

-00000-

Well, hope that was okay! Trying to embellish the characters of Tino, Donni and Frankie a bit. Oh yeah, the ages of the Toretto cousins are Tino34, Donni27, Frankie16. Hope that helps a bit. And Frankie calls Dom Uncle Dom coz he and Tino were close as kids and he is kinda like an uncle.

Not too sure where the next chapter is headed. It could be a Frankie and Jesse chapter that I started to map out or a Vince and Leon chapter. Not sure yet so I'll see what pops outta my head!

Reviews and comments are always welcome. Thankies for reading!


	6. Chapter 6: Common Ground

Well, decided to go with the Frankie/Jesse chapter, I know we've not seen Vince for a while and Leon not at all but their chapter isn't too far away. Hope its okay. Oh yeah, hope nobody gets too disappointed but I have decided not to have Brian in this fic (got nothin' against him, he was actually quite a stunner in the films…not as much of a hottie as Vin Diesel but he was getting there…almost) I just got a lot of characters floating around at the mo, but if anyone terribly hates that I've ditched him please tell me and I'll try and change it…somehow!

Oh, just to answer a few questions I'll give you the ages of all the characters (not the real ages from the film but I kinda based them around the fact that Brian said Vince was about 24 at the end of the film and Vince and Dom were in the same class at school etc, etc, etc). Okay…

Dom-24

Letty-20

Mia-19 (almost 20?)

Jesse-18

Vince-24

Leon-23

Frankie-16

Tino-34

Donni-27

Lance-22

Hikaru-late 40s

There, phew!

Thanks for all your lovely comments! I'm glad you all like it so much!

**Jada91**Heehee! Glad you liked! Jesse's age is above!

**pips24**Thankies! Well, I got too much time on my hands sitting around and waiting for people to come and fry themselves on the sun-beds not to do anymore! This fic keeps my mind from turning to absolute mush!

**Nosaparra: **Yay! Glad you liked it! Took me a long time to get it the way I wanted it but I figured that both Dom and Letty are such strong characters there would be a bit of competition between them! Might play on that in later chapters, hmmm….

**mrsblonde1503**Thankies, I will definitely keep writing!

**vettachick: **Thanks, glad you like! Hope you like this Frankie/Jesse chapter.

I shall stop my jabbering now! Here's chapter 6!

Happy reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 6: Common Ground.

Having helped to bring in the very few possessions belonging to their guests, Frankie had been shooed from the kitchen by her father. Just as the conversation had been getting interesting! Dom had been about to explain _why_ exactly they needed to lie low in Mexico for a while but as her ears had perked up at the mention of a 'heist', her father had paused Dom's speech and told Frankie to show Jesse around the yard and stables. Now she was stuck playing "Little Miss Tour-guide" to a computer geek (A/N: no offence is meant to anyone! Just Frankie's view of Jess, she's more of an outdoor girl!) who looked liked he'd not seen the outside world in years!

Frankie gritted her teeth as he continued to follow her and strode ahead of him purposely, only stopping when she reach the paddock fence. She swung herself up and sat facing the field where the three horses that belonged to her father, Donni and herself grazed.

"They you're horses?" he asked reaching the fence and resting his elbows on it beside her.

"No they're the Virgin Mary's!" she snapped but seeing his shocked face she sighed and smoothed over her harsh words. "Yes, they're our horses. The little brown and white pinto is mine. She's called Piccolino, it's Italian for 'little one'."

"Piccolino." He repeated squinting in the bright sunshine. "Did you call her that because she was the smallest?"

"Yeah." Frankie replied, swinging her legs back and forth and making the fence wobble slightly. "And because I raised her from a foal. She was _my_ little one because she needed me. She gave me something to focus on after-" she paused mid-sentence and shrugged.

Jesse watched her closely sensing that something had almost slipped from her lips but she had stopped herself. She obviously didn't trust him enough to tell him. He couldn't blame her. They'd only just met. He climbed shakily up beside her and remained silent for a long moment as he attempted to gain his balance.

"I've never seen a horse up close like this before." He said finally after he finally finished bobbing about.

"You have gotta be kidding me!" Frankie exclaimed, incredulously. "You've _never_ seen a horse this close?! Christ!" she shook her head and gave a dazed laugh as Jesse nodded his head in confirmation.

"Closest thing I ever got to a horse is that old 1970s Mustang Mach 1 that Dom drove to get us here!" Jesse added and Frankie snorted.

"That's just a rusty old piece of junk! It's not even what I'd call a car!"

"Oh, it won't be when Dom and Letty and I get through with it! We're gonna fix it up real good! Gonna paint it red, like it's original colouring and design something to go on the sides. Not flames though, they are so over done! Maybe lightening or a tiger or-or…_something_!" Jesse spoke quickly and excitedly, using his hands in wild gestures as he chattered and Frankie gave him an amused smirk.

"You always talk at a hundred miles an hour?" she quipped and Jesse gave a shy smile.

"Sorry. I get carried away sometimes. With me it's everything at full throttle or not at all. I got that attention thingy…Whatever it's called." Jesse supplied his hands drumming out a nervous rhythm on the wood of the fence either side of his legs.

Frankie simply nodded in acknowledgement.

Jesse's hands itched to do something. His body longed to be moving again but he wanted to stay and talk to Frankie for some reason. Finally, unable to contain it any longer he pulled out his cigarette tin and began to roll one up.

"You don't mind if I…do you?" he asked, gesturing to the small, white, toxic stick between his fingers.

"Go for it." Frankie shrugged. "There's plenty of fresh air to go around and it's your funeral."

Jesse's mouth quirked at the corners as he pursed the cigarette between his lips and thumbed on his lighter, touching the flame briefly to the end. He took a deep drag on it, holding his smoky breath in for a long moment before releasing it in a jet of hot, blue-grey air.

"Shit, I needed that!" he sighed, visibly relaxing. "Mia wouldn't let me smoke in the car." He took another long breath and then flicked the ash onto the dusty ground below them.

"So, what are you doing with my Uncle Dom?" Frankie asked, filling the sudden silence.

Jesse gave a shrug. "My Dad used to work for his Dad at the garage." He gave a second shrug and then began chewing on his practically nonexistent nails. "Then my Dad got sent to prison. I needed somewhere to stay and Dom's Dad took me in. Been with them all ever since."

Frankie gave him a suddenly wary, fleeting look. "Your Dad went to prison?"

"Yeah, he's still inside actually. He got seven years for man-slaughter but-" (A/N: I don't know what the real sentences are for man-slaughter but I kinda guessed that since life is only 15 years that a man-slaughter charge would be about half that. If anyone knows please tell me!)

"He _killed_ someone!?!" Frankie interrupted with a horrified yip.

Jesse frowned. "Only to protect himself!" he defended, testily. "Five of them jumped him. _Five_! What was he supposed to do?! Roll over and say 'yes please'?!" his voice had crept up several notches before he had finished and when he had he looked at Frankie's apprehensive face and felt his own features soften. "They wanted his car and his money, shit like that. Tried to beat him up to get him outta the way but my Dad weren't havin' none of it!" he gave a proud nod and tapped his cigarette, sprinkling more ash into the air.

"Dom went to prison too, didn't he?" Frankie asked quietly and Jesse nodded, loathed to talk about the reasons why Dom went to the nick. Frankie accepted his silence with a faint nodding of her head and turned back to look out at the horses who had moved closer to the two teenagers sat perched atop the paddock fence.

"So, what happened to your Mom? Where was she?" she queried finally, wrinkling her nose slightly as she thought.

"Dunno." Jesse replied, nonchalantly. "Probably out doing crack or getting shit-faced. She left when I was eight."

Frankie nodded in sympathy and understanding. "Snap." She said quietly and Jesse didn't understand what she meant until she gave a sad smile and continued speaking. "Mine too." She began swinging her legs back and forth again as if to detract from the tears welling in her eyes. "My Mom left when I was ten so I can still remember her. Not that they were good memories. She was always drunk or high." Frankie paused in both speech and movement for a long moment and then gave a light laugh. "She ran off with the postman. He was ten years younger than her. They're probably out there drunk out of their own heads and high as kites."

"Shit." Jesse swore softly, bouncing his knees up and down, his toes pushing on the second bar down of the fence.

"Yeah." Frankie agreed with another laugh, brushing her sleeve across her eyes hastily. "I don't really miss her."

"Really?" Jesse asked with raised eyebrows. "I don't miss mine either. She always used to beat me up 'cause I got a bad school report or didn't concentrate on something she told me to do. I didn't know I had A.D.D then though." He paused again and folded his arms across his chest to stop himself from fidgeting, his cigarette wobbling between his lips where he had left it.

"When Mom left that was when I got Piccolino. She's how I got through it. But Dad…Dad had it bad. That's why Aunt Donni came to live with us and Uncle Dom came down for that holiday six years ago." She fixed her brave smile back onto her features. "We pulled through though. And that's why Dad wants to help you guys now I guess." Her olive green eyes suddenly glittered teasingly. "See I would've sent you all packing!"

Jesse's head wiped around to face her in shock but he snorted when he saw her grin. "Yeah, right. You're a real heartless little biatch you, Frankie!"

Frankie laughed, tossing her head back and gazing up at the sapphire sky.

"Yeah and you're a sad little git who stares at a computer screen all day and needs to get out more!"

Jesse jabbed his elbow into her side making her wobble and cling to the fence to save herself from falling off and landing in an unceremonious heap. After a struggle to right herself she smiled.

"Y'know? You're not as bad as I thought, Jesse." She admitted before pushing back with all her might on one of his shoulders so that he did fall and land on his back in the dirt.

-00000-

Phew! That one took a while to get right! Hope its okay! Reviews and comments are always welcome. Thankies for reading!


	7. Chapter 7: Coyote Bares his Teeth

Sorry that this chapter has been so long it coming. Writer's block and dissertation deadlines have been getting to me and I'm still not truly happy with the outcome of this chapter. In the end I just had to sit down and write it to get it out of the way so that the story could move on, but any ideas on how I could improve it would be great. I might come back and re-write it when I have more inclination. Thankies for waiting so patiently! I won't leave it so long to update next time! Thanks for all your lovely comments and without further ado here is my abysmal attempt at chapter 7.

Happy reading!

Gem

Xxx

Chapter 7: Coyote Bares his Teeth.

They were late! A full 45 minutes late to be exact! No phone call to apologise or to even say when they were likely to show their sorry asses!

"I think we can cross the _De Vaughn's_ off the prospective buyers list!" Vince growled aloud as he paced the office floor. He'd worn his smartest dress-shirt and the cleanest pair of jeans that he owned in accordance to Leon's pleadings that he make an effort at least, so as not to scare the viewers away. He'd even cleaned away the tools and demoted his beloved car, a navy blue Honda Civic, to the curb outside instead of in pride of place in the middle of the garage floor.

_The key to getting a sale is to let the buyers 'visualise' their own business within the space! _Leon had said before demanding the he parked his '_baby_' outside. Vince had retorted that if they could imagine anything other than a garage within the four walls of Toretto's then they were either smoking something or just plain, fucking loony.

Vince huffed and glared at the clock for the tenth time in as many minutes and halted his nervous striding to rub a hand over his stubby jaw. He'd even fucking _shaved_ for Christ's sake! And they hadn't even turned up!

"This is bullshit!" he fumed and stormed towards the desk where he had left his mobile. His hand made to snatch it up but stopped halfway down when it blared out its ring tone.

His hand wavered slightly before he thumbed the answer button and pressed it to his ear.

"S'up, this is V?" he queried waiting for the reply.

Silence.

"Hello?" Vince felt his eyebrows draw together into a concerned frown as the silence continued. Someone had to be fucking with him. "Listen, Shit for brains, if this is some kinda joke-"

Then he heard it. A gasp. A wheeze. Spluttering.

"Dude, whoever you are, say something!"

The spluttering turned into coughing and then a familiar voice spoke low and hoarse as if he had been yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Vince…they torched the shop…"

"Leon!" Vince was moving, racing towards his car before he had even spoken his friend' name. "Leon, this ain't funny, Dawg!"

"They burnt down the shop!" Leon repeated almost as if he hadn't heard Vince's comment. "They're gonna come for the garage next. Get out!"

Vince was in his car by that time, tyres squealing against the tarmac and his mobile pressed to his ear by his shoulder as he kicked his clutch and shifted up a gear.

"Leon, stay on the phone man! Don't you hang up on me! Don't you fucking _dare_ hang up on me!"

Silence again.

"Leon?" his cry was desperate, terrified that Leon had come to some harm. He sped down the roads with little heed to the red lights that he ran through and the countless times that he almost caused a fatal accident. All that mattered was getting to the shop and getting Leon out of there. Vince had a pretty good idea who 'they' were and if his hunch was correct Leon wasn't safe. Neither of them were!

"I'm still here, V." Leon replied sounding tired and pained.

"Where are you!" Vince barked. "Are you at the shop?" he was almost there and could see the billowing, angry, black clouds in the otherwise clear blue sky.

"I'm around the-"

Leon was cut off by a second voice that gave a cruel laugh and then a high pitched squeal hurled its way down the line causing Vince to flinch and toss his own phone away from his aching eardrum and onto the passenger seat with a howl of rage and pain. There went Leon's mobile and Vince was running out of time before the very same thing happened to Leon himself.

"Hold on for me, Dawg! Coyote's got your back!"

-00000-

He was going to die. He knew it. The way that the tall, thickset man stood before him and grinned was proof enough of his murderous intent.

Leon tried to drag himself further away from the bruiser's reach but his chest was suddenly wracked by coughs caused by the dense smoke that swelled about them.

"Where d'ya think you're goin'?" he growled in amusement as Leon again tried to crawl away from his coming doom. "The Boss has ordered you put out of commission, if you catch my meanin' and I'm more than happy to oblige him!"

His brain was so starved of oxygen that he didn't feel the first few kicks that the larger man rained down onto his ribs, but after that the pain caught up to his sluggish mind and fiery agony lanced through his chest and stomach. It didn't stop there. The blows kept coming until Leon was almost begging for unconsciousness to come and claim his aching mind. And instead of keeping simply to his battered torso the kicks started falling harder on his head and shoulders as the man worked up his confidence and began to enjoy himself.

_'Oh God!'_ Leon thought as his vision tinted with blackness and he felt his consciousness failing. _'I'm going to die…'_

-00000-

Vince slammed on the breaks and his car jolted to a stop. Dirty smoke scudded across his windscreen and he held his shirt sleeve to his mouth before daring to venture outside. Leon wasn't anywhere to be seen at the front of the shop which meant that he'd used the fire escape and was in the alleyway that ran at the back of the property that was due to be sold next week.

He tore around the side of the building already feeling his lungs balking at the amount of smoke that he was breathing in and saw them. Leon sprawled across the filthy ground taking the beating of his life and the well muscled, smartly dressed man that was dishing out the punishment.

Vince glanced wildly around for some form of weapon, settling finally upon a broken chair leg that Dom had thrown out into the alleyway before he had left for Mexico.

"Hey, fucker!" he bellowed and the hefty man stopped his pounding to turn and stare at Vince. "Yeah, you!"

Vince felt his legs striding, carrying him out towards the man who was a good foot taller than him and a good few stone heavier, but he didn't care. Adrenaline coursed through his veins making the blood beat out a rushing rhythm in his ears. He was so far taken with the rage that he didn't even hear, couldn't understand what the thug was saying to him. He simply saw a target, his prey, his victim! He snarled a warning to the man, not even understanding the profanities that poured from his own lips, only ceasing them when he grit his teeth and waited for the first move from his opponent.

Vince narrowed his dark blue eyes as the man turned fully to regard him and forgot about Leon, instead focusing all his attention on his new challenge. He started towards Vince, smiling arrogantly and talking again, laughing but Vince didn't care. Before the man knew what had hit him, Vince had fisted the chair leg in both of his hands and swung as if his life depended upon it.

The sickening thud of wood against skull resound through the alley and the man's hateful grey eyes glazed over slightly, but Vince still couldn't hear anything above the thundering in his ear. He simply drew his makeshift bat back and swung again…and again…and again…

-00000-

After the madness in him had subsided, Vince hurried towards the limp body of Leon and fell trembling to his knees beside him.

"Leon! Leon! Don't you fucking die on me! Don't you even think about headin' for those pearly gates!" he shook the unconscious man's shoulder, stirring him slightly.

Leon looked blearily up at him. He looked like he had the mother of all hangovers _and_ had gone ten rounds in the boxing ring. Vince sat back on his heels with relief at the sight of Leon semi-awake and let out a howling laugh brought on by the last remains of adrenaline pumping in his heart.

"I don't see what's so funny, jackass!" Leon growled but as his sentence turned into a cough Vince sobered and stood.

"C'mon, Dawg! We gotta get outta here!" he reached down and hooked his arms under Leon's armpits, half-helping, half-dragging him to his unsteady feet. "The Tran's are out to get us and I don't think this is where they're gonna call it quits." He slung Leon's arm about his shoulders and curled his own about his tender waist eliciting a painful cry from his battered friend.

It was then, at that precise moment when the cries of Leon assaulted his ears that Vince made up his mind. His mouth formed a grim, determined line as he set Leon as comfortably as possible into the back seat of his Honda Civic.

"You up for a little road trip, Lee?" he queried with humourless grin. Leon gave him a confused glance but didn't have the energy to comment, he just lay back across the back seat marvelling at the fact that he was still alive. "We're goin' to Mexico, Dawg." Vince illuminated before shutting the back passenger door and throwing himself into the driver's seat.

-00000-

Argh! I'm sorry that this chapter is so bad! I will go back and re-do it when I get rid of this stupid writer's block! Hopefully I can shake it long enough to pen a decent chapter 8. Any comments of suggestions about this chapter or how to get rid of writer's block would be very, very, very welcome!


	8. Chapter 8: Settling In

Well, I was a lot more inspired to write this chapter (thank the good lord above!). I kinda got into it by thinking about the appearances of Tino, Frankie and Donni coz they need a bit of explaining to make them more real I think…So I got to trawling google for pics of actors and actresses who fit the bill so to speak. Donni was an easy one as I've always seen her as looking like Penelope Cruz. Frankie was a little harder as there are not that many teenage actresses out there that look Italian so I decided that she would most resemble a younger Katie Melua (perhaps with straighter hair). Tino, however, was a pig to decide who he should look like but eventually I decided that he would look like Javier Bardem (recently been in Collateral as a bad guy I think…) but with long hair. I'm so sad…I really need to get out more if I am searching for people who my characters look like…I think I'm going mad……!

Anywho, moving swiftly onwards hope this chapter is better than the last one. And thankies for you all keeping with me!

Happy reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 8: Settling In.

Dom sat back in silence having talked until the sun fell from it's prominent position in the sky to dipping just below the horizon. He had talked for hour's non-stop, simply explaining the events of the past few months, letting the burden that he had carried slip out from his lips and hang in the air before them. And they simply listened. Made no judgement, no reproachful comments or telling him what a stupid shit he'd been. But neither did they do anything to reassure him.

Tino remained stoic, his face a mask devoid of any emotion whatsoever which Dom had yet to discern as a good or bad thing. He had listened attentively as his younger cousin spoke with short interludes and comments from Letty and Mia. He hadn't so much as flinched throughout the entire retelling. Not batted and eyelid at the mention of the heists, or the races, or the shootings, or even Mia's pregnancy. And still he remained motionless even after Dom had lapsed into silence.

Dom forced himself to breathe, to take a deep shuddering inhalation as he waited desperately for something, _anything_ from Tino to take as a sign of his disapproval or the reverse. So focused was he on his cousin's reaction that he didn't feel his own hands start to shake until they juddered against his knees.

Letty saw the anxiety that grew on Dom's face and leaned forwards to link her hand with his, stopping his large, usually steady hands from trembling and silently reassuring him that things would be alright no matter what went down. He flashed her an appreciative half-smile before returning his brown gaze to Tino's pensive face.

Donni glanced between the two men coiling and uncoiling a strand of her long, ebony hair about her index finger nervously. Finally she broke the heavy hush that had commandeered the room.

"Come on, Ti. They're family…" she sighed giving her brother a prod with her foot in an attempt to prompt him into speech.

Tino took a deep breath and locked eyes with Donni, running a hand through his silver flecked mane.

"It's a lot to take in." he commented, leaning forwards and resting his elbows on his knees. "Before we go any further with this, can you assure me that they won't come for your asses?" Tino glanced at the two young women sitting in support of Dom before levelling his gaze on the younger man with a certain amount of force. The look spoke volumes to them all, letting them know that if Dom had brought his shit down on their heads, then he'd have Tino to deal with and that was not an amusing concept to anyone, Tino least of all. Though Tino Toretto may have been a good ten years Dom's senior and less well built, there was not a doubt that he would give Dom the pounding of his life if anything came close to endangering his daughter and little sister.

"I know where you're coming from, Ti." Dom replied raising his hands, palms towards Tino, in a placating gesture. "Frankie don't need to know shit. She needn't even think that we're here for more than an extended holiday if you want." He sighed and scrubbed the hand that wasn't clamped in Letty's death-grip over his stubbly head. "We just need a little time and a place to stay 'til we find our feet down here. We'll be outta your hair before you know it."

Tino's tense face softened slightly and he gave a weary smile.

"Kid, you're like a little brother to me! You think I'm gonna let you scrounge around to get yourself a rat-assed property when I got this massive fucker and no one to live in it!" Tino laughed and any of the remaining tension that had been left in the atmosphere dissipated. He sat back in his chair and beamed. "I won't have you living anywhere else!"

Dom's grin was ecstatic, though it was fuelled more by relief than happiness, and he found himself letting out a breath that he hadn't realised he had been holding in.

"You had me going there for a minute, Ti." he growled as he allowed his taut shoulders to sag with fatigue.

Tino threw his head back and laughed before giving the younger man's shoulder a slap, making Dom lurch sideways and crash into Letty, before he sobered somewhat.

"I just want what's best for my daughter." He replied in a low, poignancy tinged voice. "Frankie has a very sheltered life here and a very peaceful existence since her mother left…" Tino paused and the still raw pain of his now ex-wife's infidelity and abandonment shone in his dark eyes. Slowly he raised them back to meet Dom's, the man who had been there to comfort him six years previously when the devastating event had happened. "I don't want her to have to grow up as fast as you and Mia or Donni and I were forced to. I want her to enjoy her childhood while she still has it. Have fun with friends, going to the cinema, horse riding, getting an education. She's still a little girl at heart and I don't want that tainted."

Silence fell over the room and Dom nodded, reaching over to give Tino's shoulder a reassuring pat.

"We'll give her that, Ti. We'll help make sure that she has the childhood that none of us had and that every single one of us deserved!"

"Here, here." Donni said quietly, clearing a lump of unshed tears from her throat at Dom's emotive words, and the room lapsed into a more comfortable silence than before.

-00000-

Frankie's head snapped into the direction of the house at the sound of her name, all jovial banter with Jesse momentarily forgotten. She hopped down from her perch atop the fence and began back up towards the open back door where her father stood, beaconing for Jesse to follow her.

"Yeah, Dad?" she replied as she neared, taking the wooden steps to the back door two at a time.

Tino smiled at his daughter and smoothed a hand over her hair in an affectionate gesture.

"You hungry, bambina?" he asked moving aside so that the two teenagers could filter into the open planned lower floor of the detached property.

"Starving!" Frankie grinned though she faltered as she took in the subdued demeanour of her extended family. "Lemme guess. You've been talking about me, haven't you?" she demanded, rounding on Tino with a scowl causing him to hold his hands up in mirth and mock surrender.

"Only good things, Princess." Tino replied with a wicked grin that goaded his daughter on. She narrowed her eyes dubiously as if scrutinizing her father intensely to determine the extent of his truthfulness. After a long moment, however, she relented reluctantly and moved further into the kitchen-cum-living room-cum-dining room.

"Thank God you guys have stopped gossiping like a flock of grannies!" she exclaimed with a cheeky grin, settling herself into the armchair that Donni had vacated to go and prepare dinner for the hungry travellers. "Jesse and I thought we were gonna be out there all night!"

"Frankie…" Tino warned with a deep throated growl but she simply offered him a wide-eyed, innocent smile that would have made any man want to cater to her every whim. Tino shook his head in defeat. He'd been trying and failing for sixteen years to ignore his daughter's beguiling nature and that evening was no different. "Alright, Kiddo. You know the routine. It's your night to help Donni with the cooking." He countered, resolving to quash Frankie's control over him by removing _her_ from the near vicinity.

"Dad!" Frankie made a loud whining sound in protest, wrinkling her nose in what was swiftly becoming her signature gesture. "Can't I stay and talk to everyone? I've been stuck outside all afternoon and I didn't get to hear any of the exciting crap!" she complained.

"Language, young lady!" Tino barked and Frankie replied with a sulky frown that darkened her green gaze. Tino emulated the glare with as much ferocity as his livid child until she finally gave in and huffed, making her way to the kitchen area with a slight stamp in her step.

"Feisty little thing, huh, Ti?" Dom noted with a smirk as Tino sank back into his own armchair, rubbing a hand over his forehead as if it throbbed.

"You have _no_ idea…" he groaned through clenched teeth and Letty chuckled to herself.

"They're all like that at her age." She offered in compensation, shooting glances at both Mia and Jesse who had settled himself on the sofa between Mia and herself. "Girls are the worst though. We can be right little bitches if the mood strikes us."

Tino rolled his eyes heavenwards in exasperated accordance.

"The mood strikes more often than not in this house!" he muttered bitingly glaring at Frankie's back as she pottered about the kitchen laughing and chattering with Donni as if she had offered to help of her own free will. "I hope she behaved herself out there, Jesse. She has quite a mouth on her." Tino turned his suddenly curious stare to the thin young man who sat crushed between the two women.

"Oh…yeah…I noticed." Jesse responded with a nervous laugh evoking a more thorough examination from Tino's dark eyes. "Not that it's a bad thing!" he added hastily, eyes wide with horror at how his comment had sounded. "We actually have a lot in common. It's nice to be able to talk to someone who understands where you're coming from." He paused and shot Dom a skittish, fleeting look then offering Tino an apprehensive smile.

"As you can probably tell, Jesse is a bit of a motor-mouth himself." Dom injected with a deep laugh when Letty elbowed him in the side, prompting him to intervene before Tino's overprotective, fatherly instincts kicked in any harder.

"Indeed." Tino answered tersely, putting as much intimidation into his posture and features as he could without turning the atmosphere totally hostile. "So, you work for my cuz, hey?"

"Yeah…" Jesse mumbled unable to hold Tino's smouldering stare for more than a few seconds at a time. "S'been what? Three, four years?"

"'Bout that." Dom said with a knowing grin at Tino's actions. So often he had applied the same techniques to one of Mia's new boyfriends, though there hadn't been many and none at all after the cop…That thought triggered an immense culling of Dom's cheerfulness and he drifted into his own thoughts, unaware of the grilling that his cousin was giving to Jesse.

Letty tore her gaze from the amusing situation before her when Dom fell suddenly into another of his increasingly frequent pensive silences. She tried regaining his attention by squeezing his hand between hers but he was obviously too worn down, too exhausted to fight the thoughts that swam in the back of everyone's minds. His unguarded face made him resemble the frightened 18 year old he had been when they had carted him away to Lompoc Prison after going 'wrench-happy' on the man who had caused his father's death. The sight of her powerful, usually confident Dom looking so lost almost broke Letty's heart. She stood abruptly, giving a firm tug on his hand and arresting everyone's attention.

"Y'know, Tino. It's been a real long day for all of us. You wouldn't mind if Dom and I take a rain-check on that dinner and turn in for the night, would you?" she asked, not taking her concerned eyes from Dom's. A smile of relief and gratitude flickered at the corners of his lips as he mouthed a silent 'thank you' to her for understanding his needs when he wasn't even sure that he did.

Tino observed their mute exchange and replied with a knowing grin. He could see that the bond linking the two together was profound.

"Sure thing. We'll have dinner altogether tomorrow night, yeah?" he answered. "Spaghetti. I'm cooking."

Letty turned her smiling eyes briefly to Tino, giving him an appreciative nod, and then settled her glance back onto Dom. "Yeah, sounds good." she spoke hauling Dom to his feet. "C'mon, you. Your fuel tank is runnin' on low. It just ain't healthy to have only three hours sleep in as many days!"

Dom managed a shattered smirk. "Yes ma'am!" he quipped teasingly, shooting Tino a conspiratorial wink, making the older man snort. "What!" Dom demanded, holding his hands palm down on his chest as if hurt by his cousin's insinuating noise. "Gotta do what my girl tells me to, cuz." he defended with a shrug. "She's the boss!"

Letty and Mia shared similar looks on non-amusement but Tino shook his head and sucked in the air through his teeth, making a hissing sound of admonishment.

"That's blasphemy, Dominic." he said feigning seriousness. "See that lovely little finger of hers? She's got you wrapped right round it!"

Dom threw his head back and laughed. "Amen to that, Ti." He countered fixing his predatory glare onto Letty as she attempted to tug him in the direction of the stairs. "And I wouldn't have it any other way!"

"Ding, ding, ding! Correct answer, give the man a prize!" Mia called sarcastically, rolling her eyes as Letty lost the last ounce of her patience and fisted her hands in the front of Dom's T-shirt, physically dragging him towards the staircase.

"Night y'all!" Letty growled with little more than a backwards glance and a slight wave of her hand. Dom muttered something unintelligible along similar lines allowing himself to be lead away.

"Your bedroom is the one right next to the bathroom." Donni called up after them, the bare wooden floors creaking in their wake as they ascended and moved across the landing.

"Well," Tino said finally, turning his attention back to his youngest cousin and the scrawny teenager that his daughter seemed to have befriended. "More food for us, yes?"

-00000-

Phewies! This one is hopefully better than the last chapter which was majorly sucky! Hope that everyone likes it and it is a little bit longer than usual. As always comments and thoughts are always welcome and deeply appreciated! Thankies for reading! Working on the next chapter as we speak so be prepared for some more Dom/Letty-ness!


	9. Chapter 9: Tran's Cunning

Sorry that this chapter was so long in the coming, we've been having some quite bad storms over in the old Wirral Peninsular and it has been affecting my internet, it's been down for a while. But it's better now! I know I said that the next one would be Dom and Letty but chapter nine was going to be all squished together and I kinda like the separate-ness that I have going. You know different chapters for different characters. So I decided to break it down into two chapters. Don't worry I've posted chapter 10 along with this one so you won't have to wait for more Dom/Letty mushiness! I've really gotta work at brining Leon, Vince, Donni, Tino and Mia into the story a bit more coz they're kind of being neglected! Well, I've got some plans for the next three or four chapters so that should keep me out of trouble for a while but if anyone has any ideas please, please tell me! It would be a big help!

Okay! Big thanks go to all you who have read and reviewed! (Even if you haven't reviewed but have taken the time to read it!).

**Nosaparra: **Thankies for stickin' with me and giving me that little push I needed to write a bit faster! I needed it! I give you permission to complain at me if I ever get slow like that again!

**LizzyB22**Thankies for reviewing! Yeah I feel kinda bad for hurting Leon but he gets better! They should be arriving in Mexico very soon and meeting the family. Hmmm. What will I make happen next?…

Okay, this chappie is quite boring I think so that's okay if no one likes it, I don't very much!

Happy reading anywho!

Gem

Xxx

Chapter 9: Tran's Cunning.

"Stop!" Lance's harsh voice demanded with a bark at the driver of the sleek black jaguar. The thin, pale man gave a short nod of affirmation before gently brining the car to a halt.

Through the heavily tinted window, Lance could barely make out the shape of the all too familiar garage belonging to the man responsible for his cousin's untimely death and his own uncomfortable situation at the hands of Hikaru Tran.

They were already waiting for him. The group of dubious looking men that his uncle had hired for Lance's use and disposal in the pursuit of his objectives. There were five of them, all of varying shapes, sizes and nationalities though sharing a common demeanour of dangerousness. Lance was certain that none of the five men would think twice about kicking the living shit out of him in different circumstances but his uncle's prominent position and power in society made Lance sure that he was perfectly safe. Made him sure that his orders would be carried out to the highest possible standard and with unswerving diligence for Hikaru had their balls in the same vice that he was crushing Lance's in. They were all in the same boat and if they did not succeed in their mission that little boat would be sinking very soon!

Lance took a deep breath, steeling himself for the fierceness that he needed to portray when dealing with such vagrants and opened the car door slowly. His highly polished dress-shoes clacked against the concrete as he stepped out and began his purposeful stride forwards to meet them. Long gone where the days when he would tackle the world from the back of a motorbike, wearing his preferred attire of snakeskin trousers. The man he had been had long since perished, perhaps due to the death of Johnny, perhaps due to the immense pressure that his uncle now placed upon his young shoulders. But no matter the when's or the why's. Lance Kuan-Yin Tran had died and had been reborn into a serious man who had no more mercy than his uncle.

"Gentlemen." Lance exclaimed, sarcasm soaking his word as his lips twitched ever so briefly into a false smile. He straightened his dark blue, pinstripe suit jacket and then tugged at the open necked collar of his pristine white shirt. His hard gaze travelled over them for a fleeting, disdain filled moment before his coal black eyes stopped upon a severely beaten and bloodied member. "What the hell happened to you!" he demanded standing directly in front of the man in question, clasping his hands together at the small of his back. After a long paused without a reply, Lance raised an eyebrow warningly.

"The second target attacked me." The large, brutish man mumbled through a thick lip, blood trickling from the corner. "He went psycho on me with a chair leg!"

Lance narrowed his eyes at the much stronger man.

"Vincent Keller was half your size and you are telling me that you allowed him to beat you with a chair leg?" Lance challenged before releasing a bleat of furious laughter from his thin lips. "I find your incompetence amusing." He smoothed down the lapels of his suit jacket then turning his hard eyes back to the man that he was berating. "But you dealt with Leon Holden? Did you not?" Lance had resumed his pacing along the line of thugs but when silence resumed it's reign over the vicinity he snapped his suddenly incensed frown back to the beaten man.

"I see." He murmured icily.

"I gave him the beating of his life, sir!" the exhausted figure gasped suddenly, afraid that his ineptitude had sealed his fate, spraying blood unintentionally over the clear white of Lance's collar and his face. The young Chinese man curled the corner of his lips into a snarl of distaste, removing his handkerchief from his pocket to dab at the scarlet blobs of spittle.

"He just wasn't there when I regained consciousness…" the thug continued though he was considerably less sure of himself. "Guess his psycho friend took him away…Dunno if he was hurt bad enough to die." The last sentence came out of the bruised lips as little more than a muttering.

"I see." Lance repeated his earlier statement, turning on his heal and striding towards the open door of the garage. "Come with me!" he ordered and the five men dutifully shuffled after him towards the gloom of the empty building. Lance, however, whirled about and stabbed his finger in the air towards the limping member who had been sent to take care of Leon and the shop. "Just you!" he snarled almost animalistic in his fury and the four others fell back leaving their doomed comrade to hobble in Lance's wake.

Once inside Lance angrily gestured to several portable fuel cans that stood stacked up against the far wall before heading towards the office door.

"Empty the fuel onto the floor." He spat and his unfortunate companion set about his task without voicing the complaint that Lance knew he felt. That thought caused a heartless chuckle to form in the back of his throat as he closed the door tightly shut behind him and moved to the telephone that was perched precariously on the rickety looking desk. He reached for the handset of the phone and typed in the code for caller ID hoping with all hope that the last person to call was someone of interest. If not he would have to look in to securing a copy of the garage's recent phone bill. He hoped that he would not have to go to any further trouble that day to find something to present to his uncle and to his relief he didn't. He scribbled the digits down onto a scrap piece of paper, a smile slowly creeping onto his face as he linked together the phone number being relayed to him. Zero, one, one. Pause. Five, two. Pause. Six, eight, six. Pause. Five, seven, seven. Zero, zero, one, two. It certainly wasn't a local number; that much Lance was sure of. He would bet his life on the notion that this phone number had been used by Dominic Toretto. It had to be! He continued to grin insanely to himself at his own good fortune and wedged the receiver to his ear again, dialling up the operator service.

A loud, bawdy, female voice blared down the line, making the earpiece vibrate against Lance's ear excruciatingly.

"You've reached the operating service. How can I help?" the woman trilled, the sound of her voice setting his teeth on edge.

"Yes. Hello. I was wondering if you could help me?" he queried after unclamping his jaw and resuming the task at hand. He attempted to sound as polite as possible to ensure the woman's cooperation, though such an effort required an awful amount of willpower.

"I'll do my best, sweetheart." She replied with a light laugh that made Lance grit his teeth again.

"Yeah. Well, my business telephone line has been receiving some…hostile phone calls of late. One came this morning actually. I was hoping that it might be possible for you to tell me which state the area code is from." He paused slightly letting the woman contemplate his words for a few seconds and diverting his gaze ever so fleetingly to the work of the incompetent idiot who was sloshing petrol over the entire garage floor. "You see, I have a vague idea who it may be that is making these prank calls, but I need to know what the state the number is from to confirm my suspicions."

The woman had barely let Lance finish his sentence before her mouth had jumped into action in the same warbling tone though it seemed several pitches higher than before. "Oh, you poor love!" she cooed. "You know, there are some dreadful people out there now-a-days! My sister, Flo, she-"

"The number is zero, one, one. Five, two. Six, eight, six. Five, seven, seven. Zero, zero, one two!" Lance spoke over her roughly, cutting off her nonsensical babbling. "It's _urgent_!"

"Well, fine!" she huffed, her cheery disposition vanishing suddenly. "One minute."

He heard the faint clacking of the keyboard as the annoying operator typed the number into her computer and then the clicking of the mouse as the she searched for the one thing that would spell the beginning of the end for those responsible for Johnny's death.

"Aha!" she crowed triumphantly. "Here we are, my sweet! Lance wanted nothing more than to slap the stupid smile that was no doubt plastered across her features, from her similarly stupid face. "It's Mexican. San Felipe in Baja to be exact. Is that the state you think the culprits are from?"

Lance however, had long since stopped listening and barely heard her question before he slammed the phone back down into it's cradle cutting the ridiculous woman off for the final time. His wicked beam returned to his face. It was common knowledge in the racing world that the Toretto's had family in Mexico and Lance had had his suspicions before he was even appointed the task of vengeance by his uncle. Now, however, he had solid proof that Dom had taken off to what he thought was safety. Lance gave a gurgling laugh at that thought for there was nowhere left that was safe for the speed king.

Suddenly tapping on the office door dragged Lance from his moment of glory and he glanced angrily at the bruised faced lackey who peered in worriedly.

"I finished my task, Boss." He mumbled, clutching onto the edge of the door as if it were a shield.

"Good!" Lance sniffed with contempt. "At least you did _something_ right!" he strode towards the door, brushing past the man who flinched and scuttled backwards to let him pass. "I want you to stay in the office. I'm expecting a phone call." He lied and the other contemplated his boss' words as if he sensed the falsehood, though he nodded anyway and stepped into the box-like room. Almost as if he was resigned to his own fate.

It was all too easy! Lance congratulated himself as he jammed a nearby chair underneath the door handle preventing all escape and strode purposefully back out into the fading sunlight. The remaining four members of his little entourage shared worried glances as Lance exited alone and moved past them back towards the waiting midnight black jaguar. He paused only as he had opened the door and was levering himself into the comfortable leather seats.

"Burn it!" he growled over his shoulder, icy hate in his tone. "And lock the garage doors!" Lance disappeared into the back of the car.

"But what about Finney! He's still in-"

Lance's head reappeared for a brief second, his teeth clenched and his eyes daring any of the other men to challenge him.

"I said '_burn it'_!" his voice was low and filled with abhorrence and then the door slammed. Tyres squealing against the tarmac, leaving the four men in clouds of blue smoke as they turned to do his bidding.

-00000-

Well, that one's outta the way (thank God!). I made up the surnames for Vince and Leon coz I don't think we ever find out in the film…? Oh well. Onwards! To the Dom and Letty-ness!


	10. Chapter 10: Quality Time

Yay! Love and mush that I promised! I didn't forget it! Won't say too much about this 'cept it's random and cuteness that I put in because it fitted! They're all having a kind of holiday experience at the moment…but just wait until Vince and Leon arrive! The poo will quite literally hit the fan, if you catch my meaning…

Happy Reading!

Gem

Xxx

Chapter 10: Quality Time.

The room was like the rest of the house. Tired. Worn. Old. Bare wooden floorboards, faded cream wallpaper that only just retained it's supposed upright position on the thin, crumbling walls. It was definitely the worse for wear and had seen many years of use since it had last been decorated. That had been when Tino and Donni's parents, Dom and Mia's aunt and uncle, had been alive and Frankie's mother had still lived there. Back then the house had been fresh and alive with laughter and warmth but to Dom at the moment it seemed empty, devoid of the happiness that he had felt when visiting as a child.

"It's not what you're used to." Dom warned apologetically as he moved aside to allow Letty a view of what was to be their room for the foreseeable future. She remained silent for a worryingly long time before turning an understanding smile to Dom's concerned face. She move further inside to the large, incredibly dated looking double bed that dominated the left hand wall. It was covered in a cornflower blue patchwork quilt that Dom vaguely remembered his aunt sewing together on one of his summertime visits as a boy.

Letty moved slowly, smoothing a slender hand over the soft covers until she reached the head of the bed and then flicked on the table lamp which resided on a bedside cabinet that looked as if it had been cobbled together out of left over bits and pieces from other furniture and painted white. A warm, yellowish glow filled the darkening room and Dom had to blink several times to adjust his eyes to the sudden brightness.

"Its fine, Dom." Letty smiled, endeavouring to coax him out of his subjugated frame of mind.

His dark brown gaze did not lose it's anxious tinge, however, and he took a step into the room, turning his back and closing the shabby bedroom door, sealing them into their own world of safety for the moment.

"You're not just sayin' that, are you?" he queried, his back still turned towards her as he rested his palms against the shut door above his head, allowing his chin to droop down and rest against his chest.

When Letty refused to reply, Dom glanced at her from underneath a heavily muscled arm and met with a sever glare that told him she was not amused. She folded her arms across her breasts, resting her weight onto one leg while bending the other at the knee slightly.

"Okay, okay! I believe you!" Dom sighed scrubbing the heels of his palms into his tired, itching eyes as he attempted to smooth over his earlier accusation.

"You're loco, you know that?" Letty demanded with a smile and an affectionate shake of her head. "Come here." She beckoned softly for him to sit on the bed and for the second time that evening Dom did as he was instructed, kicking his shoes off beside the bed as he went and sitting with his back pressed against the wonky headboard. He let his muscles relax finally though they ached from the constant tension that they had endured throughout the day.

Letty shook her head again, removing her own shoes and nudging Dom slightly making him lean forwards and allowing her to squash herself between him and the headboard. She shifted and squirmed for a short time, making herself comfortable, positioning herself about his broad, brawny back and drawing her knees up either side of him. His weight was a comfort to her as he leaned his back against her torso with a fatigued sigh.

"There…" Letty muttered, distracted by the task of removing his filthy T-shirt and tossing it with a soft plop to the floor. Her hands danced over the hot skin of his neck, shoulders and upper back, working the kinks, cricks and worry from his body slowly and surely.

"Baby, you don't know how many times I pray to God thanking him that your Mami was a masseuse!" Dom breathed, letting his eyes flutter closed and revelling in the sensation that was so near to both ecstasy and agony.

Letty simply laughed and continued with the task at hand (A/N: no pun intended, lol!) taking pride in the knowledge that she could make Dom melt with the right amount of pressure applied to the right areas. She felt him shudder against her and a wicked grin flitted across her lips as she leaned forwards allowing them to brush against Dom's left ear.

"How 'bout I massage the rest of you later," she purred, her grin widening as a second shiver hurled it's way down Dom's spine. "And we move on to christening our new domain."

Letty felt more than heard the growl that rumbled through Dom before he sat forwards and turned so that he knelt in front of her, eyebrows raised and lips turned up in a smirk.

"Let," he began with a regretful tone. "This is my cousin's house. My cousin's bed! And they're all downstairs!" he cautioned though the sense of forbidden-ness about the entire situation only served to fuel their growing ardour.

"So?" Letty replied with a shrug, crossing her legs as a small child waiting for a story would. "We're gonna be livin' here for the immediate future, right?"

"Right…" Dom answered cautiously, sitting back on his heels.

"So, you gonna take a vow of chastity or somethin'?" Letty smirked at her own words and the horrified expression that suddenly exploded across Dom's features. "I mean, I know how long you can hold out on me and I know how long it'll be before you come beggin'…"

"Hell no!" he snapped incredulously. "Vow of chastity? You think I'm a glutton for punishment!...It's just that this house is old, Let, and not as…soundproof as our place back in L.A." Dom replied as if that was the end of the discussion though he had to fold his arms across his chest, wedging his hands tightly in his armpits, to keep them from betraying him and reaching out for Letty.

"So?" Letty demanded again, ire tingling in the back of her mind. "They know we're together, they know we're gonna fool around. That's why Donni gave us the room with the double bed!" she paused, concern abruptly plain in her brown eyes. "You're not getting' it somewhere else, are you!" a frown darkened her gaze.

"Fucking hell, Letty! What is _that_ supposed to mean!" Dom roared. "I've been with you every single hour of every single day and night since the last heist! Where d'you think I'm getting' it from? The curvy little blond I always keep in the trunk of the car!"

Letty narrowed her eyes briefly at his sarcasm before nodding in acceptance that he was being truthful. She knew what he was saying was the truth, but the accusation had just slipped from her lips, almost second nature to her after a life of chasing other girls away from her man in L.A.

"Whatever…" she muttered, moving away from him to the other side of the creaking bed, turning her back to him and lying down on her side. "You _really_ know how to ruin the mood, don't you?"

Dom sighed and raised his eyes to the ceiling in frustration. "C'mon Letty. Don't go all cold on me an' crap! L.A is long gone. We can put all that shit behind us, yeah?"

Letty shrugged the shoulder that she wasn't lying on in reply and Dom sighed again. The bed dipped and then bounced back up as Dom stood and moved around to the opposite side, kneeling down in front of Letty so that she was forced to look at him.

"It's just a little strange that's all." He said softly crossing his arms on the bed directly before her and leaning his chin on them so that their faces where inches apart. Letty raised her eyes to look at him finally. "Anyway," he continued, a smirk on his face as he tried to lighten the mood again. "Thought I was couched…"

"Do you wanna be?" Letty growled raising a challenging eyebrow. "Coz I'm sure it can be arranged if you-"

"No, no! Here's good!" he injected swiftly, unsure whether she would go through with her earlier threat now that he had mentioned it. She certainly seemed in the right frame of mind to do it.

Letty grinned triumphantly at Dom's suddenly skittish disposition and her increased control of the situation.

"Never thought I'd see the day when Dominic Toretto, Mr Testosterone himself, turned down sex!" she muttered, shaking her head and scooting back over to the other side of the bed, away from him for a second time.

That made him sit up and take notice. Panic covered his face as she moved further away from him, unsure whether she was serious or not. He reached out suddenly, stopping her escape and grabbing her firmly. He stood and crawled into the centre of the bed where she lay, pinning her hands above her head with his larger one and settling his knees on either side of her body.

"Now, now, Letty. Don't put words into my mouth. I didn't turn anything down." He growled even though he knew the risk that he was taking. If she was still mad at him, he was likely to get his _'manhood'_ kneed and be spending anywhere between two nights to an entire week sleeping on the sofa. However, if she wasn't…

Her eyes flashed at him from her face, ebony hair splayed out around her like a dark halo. Ever so slightly the corner of her lips twitched upwards and he suddenly knew that he wouldn't be sleeping anywhere other than beside her. He knew that he wasn't likely to be sleeping for that matter!

"I'm not in the mood anymore, Dom." She replied, pretending to fight off a yawn and to look bored. Dom, however, was not falling for it.

"The hell you're not." He rumbled, inching down towards her. "Admit it! You're fucking hot for me!"

Letty's laugh was loud and barking but she didn't struggle against him.

"Damn straight!" she grinned devilishly.

-00000-

Yay! Chapter 10 done. I enjoyed writing that one, t'was fun! Hopefully it was okay. I am trying desperately to keep them in character so any hints or tips you have please tell me! Not too sure where the next chapter is heading. It could be the rest of the family having their dinner or the next morning. Not too sure yet, but the arrival of Vince and Leon is not far away! Yay! I love Leon and Vince they're too cool! Okay, I'll go now!


	11. Chapter 11: The Third Degree

Chapter 11, yay! Sorry it took so long to pen. I'm back at uni on Monday so I won't have as much time to write as I really really need to get down to some serious animating! So probably I will be adding a chapter once a week, if all goes to plan. Sorry, hope it doesn't put anyone off reading coz I still really need all your feedback! It helps so much!

Anyway, this chapter is my attempt to include Donni in the story a bit more. She was kinda pushed aside a bit, well so are Mia and Tino but I'm working on an entirely Mia chapter coz she hasn't had one of her own yet. Hope it's okay…

**tori2085**wow! Like a scene from the film! Shucks, you make me blush! What a compliment! Never in a million-zillion years did I think I would get anywhere close to the original feel of the film. Thanks so much!

**Nosaparra: **thanks for coming back again! Glad you liked the last one. Hope this ones okay!

Okay, well Happy Reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 11: The Third Degree.

"So…?" Donni hissed through the corner of her mouth at her young niece working diligently beside her to serve the pasta into equal amounts on each plate.

Frankie refused eye contact with the older woman and stared at the heap of food that she was currently piling onto her father's plate having sensed her aunt's curious gaze. "So what?" she replied with a blasé shrug, playing dumb, and Donni let out a growl of frustration raising her eyes to the ceiling.

"What do you mean 'so what'? Don't you 'so what' _me_, missy!" she hissed again, knocking her shoulder into Frankie's playfully, drawing the girl's stare unwillingly from the safety of the dish. "You know very well _what!_"

They fell into a sudden silence and Frankie continued to slop dollops of pasta onto the five off-white plates that were chipped and cracked due to years of usage and being dropped. The quiet tingled like static between them and Frankie knew that Donni was practically writhing beside her, desperate to drag information out of her and she had a pretty good idea who her aunt wanted to know about.

"So…?" Donni said again, unable to contain herself and with a mischievous smirk plastered onto her delicate features. Frankie huffed, turning her dark green eyes to Donni's excited amber ones very nearly rolling them in exasperation.

"So _what?_!" she demanded again through gritted teeth, placing the plate she was holding down onto the kitchen worktop with a crack of porcelain against granite. "Just spit it out, Donni! You look like you're gonna burst if you don't say something soon."

Donni grabbed her niece's elbow to stop her from turning back to the food and twisted her so that they stood almost eye to eye, Frankie standing a good head shorter.

"So…things seem to be going well with you and what's-his-face?" Donni grinned wider than Frankie would have thought humanly possible and she stifled a laugh, dragging her arm from Donni's vice-like grip.

"Jesse. His name is Jesse." Frankie corrected and immediately regretted it. A spark of speculation set Donni's eyes blazing as she relinquished her fierce grasp and folded her arms across her chest with a raised eyebrow.

"I see…" she muttered with a deviously knowing smirk which dragged another huff from Frankie.

"Whatever, Donni!" she growled turning back to the food and beginning to grate cheese over the top. "You're so…so…_pazzo_! I'm through trying to stop your strange little mind from creating weird fantasies! _Ow_!" Frankie hissed and dropped the cheese grater having shredded her fingertip instead of the parmesan, quickly shoving it into her mouth to stop the bleeding.

Donni snatched up the young girl's wrist and began running it under the cold tap while searching for the first aid kit in the cupboard underneath the sink, cursing heavily in Italian all the while. She stood straight after a moment of rummaging and fixed a bright blue plaster over the small but painful laceration.

"You need to keep your mind focused on the task at hand." She announced with a look of mock admonishment, though a smile was not far behind. "Instead of thinking about…_someone_!"

Frankie growled in frustration drawing concerned glances from the three sat waiting patiently around the battered old dining table. She blushed furiously and waved their stares away announcing that she was fine and had simply sliced her finger before rounding on Donni with an annoyed frown.

"You're the one who started all this and made me lose my concentration!" she replied in a furious whisper, Donni's chuckling only serving to fuel her fury. "Besides I wasn't thinking about Jesse! I only met him today."

Donni laughed again and patted Frankie's shoulder calmingly. "That ain't never stopped us Toretto girls before. It's never stopped _you_ before!" Donni narrowed her eyes at her niece. "I remember when you brought-what was his name?" Donni closed her eyes and ground her teeth together trying to recall her memory. "Oh you know the one! The first boyfriend you ever brought home. You were fourteen and you met him that very day!"

Frankie rolled her eyes and took a deep breath to try and quell her temper as she busied herself with slicing up a loaf of bread and buttering it. "His name was Felix and he was an _idiota_!" Frankie retorted, slapping the bread slices down onto a spare plate, one on top of the other, before attacking them with the knife again, cutting them into smaller squares. She turned, bread plate in hand meaning to take it through to the dining area but Donni moved in front of her, leaning one hand on either worktop and blocking her escape. "Donni!"

The older woman smiled and leaned down slightly to fix Frankie with an invasive stare, eye to eye. "Come on, Frank. Just tell me what you think of him then I'll stop teasing." She pleaded and Frankie clenched her teeth, rolling her eyes yet again in frustration.

"He's nice." She sighed. "There, you happy?" she quipped attempting to force her way past the demented woman facing her who she usually loved to death. At that moment, however, she wanted nothing more than to sock her one!

"Just _nice_?" Donni pushed receiving a dangerous glare.

"Jesus _Holy_ Christ! What is this? The Spanish Inquisition!" Frankie snapped, so wound up that she failed to notice that she was the centre of attention for those sat at the dinner table.

Donni watched with slightly disapproving eyes as Frankie elbowed her way out of the kitchen muttering profanities under her breath.

"Don't let your father hear you talking dirt!" Donni warned her retreating back and Frankie simply shot her a final glance, glaring daggers.

They worked in silence, setting the table and serving their waiting family their food before it went cold, returning to the kitchen one final time to retrieve drinks.

"So…" Donni said quietly and Frankie almost wanted to rip the hair from her own head in desperation. "You really like him, huh? I mean if you're getting all defensive with me then you must."

Frankie shook her head, pleadingly. Why did her family enjoy mocking her so much? Was it punishment for something she had done wrong in a previous life? Finally she raised her eyes back to her aunts and gave a tired sigh. "Yes, I like him." She snapped quietly. "He understands me coz his mom left when he was little too."

Donni sobered at that and gave a nod, allaying her taunting and winding her arms about Frankie, pulling the sixteen year old into a warm embrace. "You know I don't mean nothing when I tease you, don't you bambina?" Donni whispered and Frankie sighed and nodded, returning the hug.

"Yeah…" she replied and Donni held her at arms length, scrutinising her.

"Alright. I'll call it quits on the teasing." She smiled and ruffled Frankie's hair slightly, giving a wistful sigh. "I remember when you were only little…you're growing up too fast, bambina."

Frankie gave Donni an exasperated shake of her head before puling away and making towards the table with a glass of water in each hand. "I'm not a little kid anymore, Donni. I haven't been for a long time."

Donni stood watching for a long moment contemplating just how true Frankie's words were. No matter what Tino said about her being a little girl in some aspects, she was more mature than both Donni and her brother put together in most. She had grown up too fast and that had been her mother's fault, running off with the fucking postman. It had been so long since either Tino or Frankie had laughed freely and Donni found part of her heart hoping that the arrival of their cousins and their cousins friends could remedy that somewhat. Her gaze flickered to where Frankie sat down beside Jesse and they shared a jovial moment recounting to Mia and Tino how the young man had fallen off the fence, squabbling about the reasons he had 'fallen'. Donni found herself chuckling with them as Frankie spoke animatedly, trying to out word Jesse and win their verbal sparring session.

"Donni?" Tino called breaking her from her thoughts. She glanced up at her brother's amused face. "You gonna come eat, or are you gonna stare at us all night?"

She simply rolled her eyes and carried the last three glasses to the table, taking her place beside Mia and joining in the chatter as the all ate.

_Yes_, she thought. _Things were definitely going to get better_!

-00000-

Phew! That ones done! Hope that it's not too bad. I know what Frankie feels like coz my family tease relentlessly if they find out I like someone…Families! Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em! Sheesh! Oh, before I pop off, if anyone knows how long it takes to drive from L.A to San Felipe I would be really grateful if you could tell me, being a brit I don't know a lot about journey times in the U.S.A. Sure ask me how long it takes to get anywhere in the U.K and I know it but America…not so hot! Thankies!

Oh and pazzo is italian for crazy/insane...i think...(if thats wrong please tell me coz i don't speak italian, i barely speak english very well! hahaha!)


	12. Chapter 12: Morning Glory

Chappie number 12 is here! Thought I'd update once more before I am chained down to finishing my dissertation (groan). Hope it's okay but I probably won't be updating til next weekend so enjoy this while you can! Lol!

Thankies to you for your lovely reviews, hope you like this chapter and it's not too corny!

Happy Reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 12: Morning Glory.

Frankie woke to the blaring of her alarm clock, her newly awakened brain suddenly registering the stabbing pain that shot down her neck which had slumped to allow her head to droop, resting her chin on her chest. She'd fallen asleep on the window seat doing homework again and groaned as the fierce piercing pain increased in intensity, travelling down her hunched spine as she struggled to sit up straight. Quickly she scanned over her work, checking how much of her English essay she had finished and how much of it was actually coherent and legible before flinging the half-answered essay question into her backpack ready for another day in the hell that they called High School. She'd just have to complete it during lunch and skip choir practice for a second week in a row, no doubt provoking another lecture from her choir teacher, Mrs. Miller. She growled in frustration at the situation that she had landed herself in by leaving her work until the last minute, and then grabbed her towel, storming down the landing towards the bathroom.

There was just something about the early morning that Frankie loved. She smiled, calming her lack of sleep induced irritation and breathed in the smell of the new day that drifted in through the open window at the end of the long, bare wooden corridor, pale yellow sunlight already warming the timbers of the rickety old house.

It was silent. Save for the creaking as the house almost seemed to breathe in the morning freshness itself and the usual snores of her father. That morning, however, there were remarkably more voices added to the chorus as Frankie padded barefoot down towards the bathroom. A decidedly loud, female snore that sounded like a raging monster-truck reverberated through the thin walls of her Uncle Dom's room. That would be Letty, she presumed and smirked to herself. How a woman could make such a monumental disturbance was beyond her and she stifled a snigger as she passed it, tossing her towel over her shoulder.

Mia, on the other hand, did not so much snore as breathe incredibly loud and Frankie could picture her father's youngest cousin with her cheek pressed firmly up against her pillow, mouth gaping wide. How else could she take such deep, gasping breaths?

Frankie shook her head again and paused her steps, glancing across the landing to the door of the box room that Jesse now inhabited. She'd heard him typing away on his laptop the previous night while she had sat attempting to pen her essay upon the poetry of William Blake, a constant rhythm of clacks and clicks keeping her company until her brain had finally shut down, refusing to squeeze anymore critical theories out, and she had fallen asleep at around 3:15am. Frankie didn't know how long Jesse had stayed awake for, hunched over his laptop computer, but there was little chance that she would be seeing him awake before she went to school at such an ungodly hour of the morning.

Quite unexpectedly she felt a feeling of regret well in her chest at the thought of not being able to see the other teenager until that afternoon and she frowned in confusion attempting to decipher where that feeling had suddenly sprung from. She shook her head in puzzlement, glancing down at her cheap, pink plastic watch putting her strange feelings down to the fact that she was up and wide awake at the ridiculous time of 6:30 after having a mere three and a quarter hours of rest. She yawned and shook her head a second time, kicking the shabby white painted door of the bathroom open as she went to enter.

"Fuck!"

Frankie stopped dead, eyes wide in horror, mouth hanging open as the bathroom's current occupant yelled and turned a bleary eyed, startled gaze upon his intruder, mid-piss and unable to do anything but continue. His hair stood up in sleep-skewed angles that bordered on the impossible.

Finally Frankie's brain kicked in and she released a horror-struck yip, stumbling backwards and falling over her feet to land in a heap at the top of the stairs. She simply lay there, staring at the cracked plaster of the ceiling in mortification, her cheeks flaming blood red as she heard the toilet flush and then the tap turn on as he washed his hands and cursed under his breath.

"Shit, Frankie. Are you alright?" Jesse asked, looking down at her and Frankie cringed, placing her hands over her burning face, desperately and silently pleading for the creaking wooden floor to open up and swallow her right there and then.

"I'm sorry!" she groaned with her eyes still tightly shut and her hands pressing into them so hard that they began to ache. "I thought no one was awake yet!" She apologised lamely wishing that he would leave her to her humiliation.

_Just go! _She thought desperately. _Just go so I can try and wipe my mind free from thoughts of your-_

"You scared the living crap outta me, girl!" he laughed and Frankie writhed, trying in vain to sink down into the floorboards at the thoughts that were invading her mind.

Jesse gave another laugh and reached down to take hold of her wrist, pulling it away from her scrunched up face. "Guess you got a bit of an eyeful, huh?"

Reluctantly she opened her uncovered eye, keeping the other still tightly closed and covered, and glanced up at Jesse's face, automatically wishing that she hadn't. Blood coursed up into her cheeks again, making her face glow even redder than previously.

"So, you getting off the floor anytime soon?" he quirked an eyebrow at her, tugging on her wrist so that she sat upright. Frankie, however, tore her hand from his grasp and stood without his aid, suddenly angry at herself for feeling so embarrassed.

"You should learn to lock the bleeding door!" she scolded, snatching her towel up in a swift motion that made Jesse take a step backwards.

"The bloody latch broke off!" he defended, pointing a waving finger at the offending door. "I didn't think anyone got up this early anyway!"

Frankie snorted and wrapped her fraying, faded pink towel about her arms, then hugging it to her chest as if to shield herself from the shameful situation that she had landed herself in.

"I'm always up this early." She responded, watching warily as Jesse yawned and scratched absentmindedly at his pale, bare, hairless chest. "I got school, you know!"

Frankie's eyes involuntarily took him in as he stood there before her. Slight in build, though with a little muscle on his upper arms, probably from working in her Uncle Dom's garage. His left shoulder and right hip bore fiery, blood red scabs the size of coins, surrounded further by purple bruises almost the same size as Frankie's fist. They were obviously the gunshot wounds that he had suffered while back in L.A though he hadn't told her why he'd been targeted. If her father had anything to do with it she'd never find out why he had been shot.

Her eye moved again, perhaps even more embarrassingly than before as they flickered lower of the own accord. It was almost as if they were drawn by some magnetic impulse. (A/N: All you girls out there gotta know what I mean! Lol! When you see a guy you like it just…just…happens! You can't help it!...or is that just me?) They rested briefly on the waistband of his royal blue boxer shorts that looked about three sizes too big for him and Frankie silently gave thanks for that fact even though that strange feeling of regret had returned. Besides, she'd already seen enough to guess how big he was…

_Argh! _ Frankie forced her eyes shut again and slapped her towel up as much to hide her blushing face as to stop herself from studying him further and initiating more corrupt thoughts. Jesse, however, had been too busy yawning and rubbing sleep from his eyes to notice her invasive stare. He glanced back at her and chuckled at her hidden face.

"Come on, Frankie. It's not that bad. Lotsa girls have seen me naked before."

A sudden irritation burned in her chest and she ripped her makeshift shield from her face, not caring that he could see her flushing cheeks and glaring at him maliciously.

"_Lovely_!" she nettled, partly with disgust at the implications of his words and partly with an emotion that she couldn't quite place. "I _really_ wanted to know that!" she shuddered.

"Calm down, Frank! It's no big deal!" Jesse muttered with a confused frown and another yawn.

Frankie watched him, still seething and fighting desperately against the urge to follow suit and yawn as well.

"Stop yawning!" she hissed, stifling a second one that attempted to force it's way from her lips. "You're making _me_ yawn and I can't be mad at you when I'm yawning!"

Jesse laughed and performed another deep, gaping intake of breath and Frankie, unable to prevent it any longer gave in to a broad yawn making Jesse laugh harder. Finally, she allowed a smile to play across her face.

"See, there's that sense of humour I knew you had." Jesse grinned, cuffing her chin playfully. "No one can stay mad at _me_ for too long."

"Yeah, yeah…" she retorted rolling her eyes. "This would never have happened if you hadn't broken the door. I don't really care for seeing naked men in my house, it's quite scarring!"

"Yeah, yeah…" Jesse mimicked sarcastically. "You loved it really…but I guess it means that I'm just gonna have to return the favour…"

Frankie's eyes widened at his insinuation. "The hell you will!" she barked but before either of them could continue their playful bantering they heard loud footsteps. Turning in unison they watched as the door to Dom and Letty's room swung open revealing Letty squinting at them from underneath a mass of chaotic, sleep-trussed hair. She swayed slightly, barely awake enough to stand upright and a look of profound annoyance furrowed her brow.

"You mind takin' your little party somewhere else?" she demanded in a fierce, sleep distorted mutter. "Some of us are tryin' to sleep!" she swayed again and grabbed onto the door and it's frame to steady herself. She wore Dom's filthy T-shirt from the previous day that reached down to her thighs.

Jesse snorted cheekily. "Don't take it out on us coz you spent all night workin' Dom and not sleeping!" he teased, knowing that he was only able to get away with such a comment because Letty was still too asleep to hit him. She replied with a sarcastic smile.

"Ha ha! Funny!" she retorted, the pretend smile falling from her lips to be replaced with a classic Letty scowl. "Just coz you're not getting' any, _Einstein_!" she growled as she turned and moved back into the room. "Just keep it down, would ya?" she kicked the door closed behind her, leaving the two teenagers sharing amused glances as muttering and mumbling ensued until the bedsprings creaked and Dom growled at her to stop being a royal pain in his ass and quit shaking the bed.

"That was definitely a conversation that I didn't want to hear." Frankie announced though a little more quietly, not wanting to provoke the wrath of a tired Letty.

Jesse chuckled. "You'll get used to it." He assured her, moving towards his room. "If there's one thing about that girl that you'll learn, it's that what Letty wants, Letty gets! And that's usually Dom…or chocolate…or both!"

"Thanks, Jesse!" Frankie spat horrified as he stepped into his darkened room. "Now I'm gonna have to cleanse my mind a second time! First you naked, now my Uncle Dom's sex-life!" she shuddered again and headed into the bathroom leaving Jesse to laugh in the doorway of his room.

-00000-

Next chap will be next weekend! Sorry! But it's gonna be a Letty and Donni chapter, already got most of it down! Please read and review!


	13. Chapter 13: Girl Talk

Chapter 13 unlucky for some and definitely for me! It has taken me sooooo long to get this one out even though I had a fair bit written. But…my dissertation is finally finished (woohoo!) and handed in (double woohoo!) and I don't have to worry about it until I get my results and see that I failed miserably (not woohoo but I don't really care about it…just yet). So that means that my post won't be as few and far between as they have been, depending on whether my inspiration keeps flowing or not.

Anywho, this chapter is very random. Wanted to have some more character development and wanted it to have Letty in it coz I've only had her interacting with the original characters and not any of mine. Well, I hope it's okay. It's basically what the title says…girls having a chat…about boys..Lol! Hope you like!

Thankies for continuing to review, I really appreciate it!

Okay, Happy Reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 13: Girl Talk.

Letty sat scowling into the mug of bitter, black coffee that she was nursing in an attempt to wake herself up properly. After being rudely woken at an _obscene_ hour of the morning by the noisy, subconscious 'courting rituals' of the house's two teenagers, she had intended to crawl back into the lumpy, creaking bed that she had shared with Dom and sleep well into the afternoon. Dom, however, had had other ideas it seemed, positioning himself face down and spread-eagled across the sore excuse for a double bed.

She wasn't usually one to be kicked out of bed the morning after. No. She was generally the one doing the kicking out and perhaps Dom had finally gathered enough courage and decided to pay her back. She had begun to climb back in, attempting to move his heavy, unyielding limbs out of the way until Dom had barked at her to stop shaking the bed, dubbing her the 'royal pain in his ass'! Yes, those where his exact words and they made Letty grind her teeth together harder. He had picked the wrong day to grow a backbone and try and exact his revenge!

"Lemme guess?" Donni's voice broke into Letty's thoughts and made her glance up at the older woman who pottered about the kitchen. "Dom pissed you off?" she queried with a chuckle, placing a plate of toast in the centre of the table, sucking butter from her thumb and taking the seat opposite the younger woman.

Letty snorted in resentful amusement, pausing to take a swig of her coffee and wincing at it's bitterness, baring her teeth. "How did you guess?" she replied sarcastically, reaching for a slice of lightly toasted bread and biting off as much as she could possibly chew.

Donni smiled again, folding her arms on the table top. "I been around the block a few times." She said enigmatically. "I know the look of a _'boyfriend induced fury' _when I see one…Had enough of my own to write me a bestseller 'bout it!"

Letty sniggered as she chewed her toast, considering the woman before her, wrapping her free hand about her mug and soaking up the heat it exuded. "Ya got me." She conceded with a barely concealed yawn.

"So…what did he do to chase you from your sleep so early in the morning? No offence, but you don't seem like much of a morning person." Donni spoke while taking her own slice of toast and lacing it with honey to satiate her sweet-tooth.

"I'm not." Letty grunted out through a second mouthful. Usually she would go ballistic at such a comment, though she managed to keep her temper down to a mere niggling irritation. Donni was Dom's cousin after all, not the enemy that she knew so well in the form of the curb-crawling women of the racing world. She stopped her actions for a time to scrutinise Donni as she wiped up the access honey that had seeped onto her plate and sucked it from her finger, oblivious entirely to Letty's musings. Finally the long, raven haired woman looked up, smiling when she noticed Letty's watch and set to slathering another round of bread with the sticky, sweet amber mess.

"Told me I was a royal pain in his ass." Letty replied after the pause, taking another swallow of scolding fluid and snorting into her cup dangerously when Donni let a breath hiss out between her teeth, her eyebrows raised much like Dom's did in disbelief.

"Guess he ain't a morning person either, huh?"

Letty couldn't hold it in that time and laughed, almost scalding herself in the process. "Definitely not. Have to drag his ass outta his pit some mornings." She continued to chuckle.

Donni grinned and nodded her head in agreement. "Had a few men like that myself." She admitted with a gentle nod of her head. "'Cept it was _my_ bed I had to try and drag 'em out of!"

Letty gave a noise of mock admonishment and shook her head. "See that's where you're going wrong. Never let a man know where you live." She schooled with a broad grin. "Soon as they know where you live, you'll never get rid of them!"

Donni shook her own head in amusement, leaning back in her chair and draping her arms over the sides. "You sound like you're speaking from experience." She teased and Letty replied with another face-wide smile.

"I've still got Dom following me around, haven't I? That's proof right there!" Letty quirked an eyebrow and they both dissolved into peels of laughter at Dom's expense. _'Well,' _Letty thought. _'He deserves it for chucking me out this morning!'_

"So…" she asked when they had both sobered sufficiently, relaxing back into her chair a little more. "These men you had to kick out? Was it because they gave a poor _performance_?" she teased with a devious smirk. "Or are you just a bit of a player, Donni?"

Donni's eyebrows shot up again in an expression that was so like Dom that Letty had to stifle more laughter. In the end the older woman's own smile grew and she narrowed her eyes at Letty's teasing.

"Bit of both, really." She confessed with a shrug. "Ain't never found a man worth keeping around for more than a few weeks."

"Amen to that, sister!" Letty agreed emphatically and Donni snorted again.

"Dom must have _really _pissed you off." She muttered, attacking a third piece of honey smeared toast, though she watched Letty's reaction carefully, almost as if she was attempting to determine whether the Latin-American girl truly loved her cousin, or if she was simply playing him.

Letty locked her smouldering, darker stare with Donni's, sensing the scrutiny that she was under. Then she shook her head slowly, gazing back down into the black liquid in the faded yellow mug. "Don't get me wrong, I love him so much it's _excruciating_ sometimes." She glanced back up at Donni locking their eyes again, trying to show her truthfulness in their soft brown depths. "It's so annoying! He still makes me go all weak-kneed like a fuckin' lovesick schoolgirl!" she growled in frustration and Donni smiled, left with no doubt that Letty loved her baby cousin more than words could describe.

Letty sighed almost in defeat, propping her chin onto her free fist and swirling the coffee in her mug with the other. "We've both got a helluva temper on us. I'll be the first to admit that! We can both be right stubborn fuckers when we want to be and that's generally with each other." She paused again and Donni nodded sagely in accordance, as if she knew exactly where Letty was coming from.

"And an argument ends up either of two ways, right?" Donni said with a mischievous, one-sided smirk that caused Letty to nod warily. "You either scream 'til you're _both_ blue in the face and go to bed lonely, or…the bedsprings get a proper workout!"

Letty's laughed barked out, echoing around the silent house and she stifled it swiftly with another mouthful of her coffee. "Exactly!" she replied finally. "S'been the same since Dom and I got together. I was sixteen. He was twenty."

Donni barely flinched as the age difference which was a pleasant surprise for Letty. She and Dom had come up against so much opposition from so many people that she had almost come to expect it. Donni, however, seemed indifferent to the four years that separated them and glanced up when she sensed Letty's astonishment. She beamed and waved a hand dismissively.

"You thought that I was gonna go all ape-shit coz of a four year age gap!" she asked incredulously. "Four years ain't nothin', Kiddo!" she chuckled. "My first proper boyfriend, the one that _showed me the ropes_ so to speak…" another deep throated laugh escaped her lips and Letty found herself smiling conspiratorially. "I was eighteen and he was thirty-two."

"_Fucking hell_!" Letty blurted and Donni continued to laugh.

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

Letty shook her head in disbelief, mouth gaping wide. "Jesus! People must have _really_ given you a rough ride! I mean, I thought that _I_ had it bad with what they said about me and Dom!"

Donni shrugged nonchalantly. "I got used to it." She replied though her tone was a little more subdued.

"Yeah, you have to." Letty nodded in agreement. "Just gotta take it all in your stride, I guess." She smiled coldly, remembering all of the people who had caused a fuss, all the girls who had joked that she was a kid and couldn't give Dom what a real woman could. "It's easier now that we're older though." She continued turning her thoughts away from the misery that she remembered in L.A. "But I'd been dancing around after Dom since I was old enough to realise that boys didn't have cooties!"

Donni chuckled and reached across the distance of table between them to commandeer Letty's half finished mug of coffee to steal a few mouthfuls.

"Then you grew tits and a fine ass and Dom was all ears for you, right?" she grinned devilishly returning the mug to Letty who nodded and rolled her eyes.

"Hit the nail on the head." She replied and the stared at each other in an amused silence for several minutes before their smiles refused to be subdued for any longer.

"Men!" they muttered in unison.

-00000-

Well, I know that chapter was slightly random but I wanted to develop the link between Letty and Donni just so that I'm not having all the characters interacting with the same ones over and over again. Gets a bit boring…Please feel free to comment, criticise, add tips, hints and whatever else takes your fancy! Next chapter is either a Mia, Donni, Letty chapter or….(drum roll please!) ol's Coyote and Leon arriving (finally!). Not sure…what do you reckon?


	14. Chapter 14: The Letty Power Stance

Here we go. Chapter 14...sorry it's taken me forever to get out. I needed inspiring again and after penning a few one-shots I'm finally back in the business.

I really enjoyed writing this one. Had to stop myself from laughing out loud at 2:00am. It just kinda…wrote itself if you know what I mean. Hopefully it's worth that wait.

Thankies for all you continuing reviews, you know I love them! Tell me what you reckon of this one.

Right, Happy Reading and get ready for a bit of a giggle.

Gem

Xxx

Chapter 14: The Letty Power Stance.

For a brief, beautiful moment, Mia stretched out, basking in the warmth and comfort of her bed somewhere halfway between sleep and awakening. Slowly, though, as she woke from her slumber, the bitterness of reality reared it's ugly head and with it came the overwhelming nausea that had taken root in the pit of her stomach over the past few mornings, like a coiled snake waiting until she least expected it to strike with all it's venom and potency.

She tried desperately to ignore it, hoping in vain that the overpowering desire to vomit up her innards would subside with a few deep breaths. It didn't, however, seeming to only make matters worse until Mia could bare it no longer, tossing back her covers and springing from the small, creaking single bead, dashing at a speed that would have made Dom proud, to the bathroom

Frankie, who had just finished her shower, barely had a chance to scramble from the way as her father's youngest cousin tore past and into the steam filled room that she had just vacated, already retching uncontrollably.

"You okay, Mia?" Frankie queried tentatively, hair dripping wet and leaving a watery trail of raindrops along the wooden flooring behind her.

Mia heaved again, clasping onto the rim of the toilet so hard that she thought the porcelain might shatter. She managed a quick nod and to croak out "morning sickness" before the entirety of the previous night's pasta spewed forth from her mouth, the acid of her stomach making her throat burn and her eyes fill with tears.

Frankie watched wide-eyed with a mixture of horror and morbid fascination until she noticed the trails of pale upset that streaked from Mia's eyes. At that point she began to panic, taking a few steps towards Mia before reversing and moving towards the stairs repeatedly and at a frantic pace.

"Uh…um…Don't move!" she gushed finally, waving her hands at the older girl in a gesture that was meant to reinforce her words. "I-I'll go and get Donni!" she announced, beating a hasty retreat and leaving Mia to barf herself inside out.

-00000-

Letty glanced up from where she sat leaning back in her seat, her elbows resting gently against the wooden chair arms, legs stretched out beneath the table and crossed at the ankles. Both she and Donni glanced up from where they sat, semi-recumbent and chattering, at the sound of someone thundering down the stairs and bursting into view.

Frankie skidded slightly, tripping over a pair of her father's work boots and then glanced up, her face pale as if she had seen a ghost and strewn with water-glossed, jet black waves of hair that flew around her shoulders like some form of demented dreadlocks.

"Hey, Bambina. Sleep well?" Donni smiled, still chuckling at the conversation that she and Letty had been sharing and cocking her head in curiosity at her niece.

"You! You got me kicked outta bed, this morning!" Letty growled with a mock-scowl before grinning wide and nodding her head at the teenager. "S'up, Kiddo?"

Frankie remained silent for a long moment until both of the older women sat up straight, considering her fully.

"Mia's being sick." she stated finally, waving her arms in the vague direction of the bathroom and then swallowing hard, a look of distaste plain on her pretty face. "I think it's morning sickness." she paused and shuddered, drawing her shoulders up to her ears tightly. "It's gross! I'm never getting pregnant! _Ever_!"

Letty and Donni shot each other wide eyed stares before bursting into laughter and evoking the ire of the sixteen year old who stood impatiently in front of them, hands fixed firmly on her hips.

"That's a good thing, Frank." Donni sniggered and Frankie scowled harder, growling at their childishness. "Your Dad will be really pleased to hear you say that."

"Come on, you two! Are you just gonna sit there?" she sighed impatiently. "Mia's really upset about it. I think she's crying."

That got them moving and almost before she had finished speaking, the two raven hair women had sprung from their places like a pair of panthers and were dashing up the stairs towards the bathroom with Frankie hot on their heels.

-00000-

What seemed an eternity later, Mia dimly made out the thumping of three pairs of footsteps hurrying along the creaking floorboards in her direction and Letty and Donni were beside her almost before she had registered the noise that they were making.

"It's okay, Mia." Letty soothed, pulling the younger girl's long, sleep-trussed hair away from her face and the toilet, securing it into a messy topknot with the hair band that was keeping her own unruly locks from running rampant about her face.

"Just let it all out, Bambina." Donni added rubbing her palm tenderly up and down Mia's hunched back. "Don't fight it, let it go."

She brushed her tears aside and did as her cousin instructed her, giving a slight jerk of her head in affirmation before she was doubled over the rim again.

"I hate…this!" she managed to gasp between heaves as her stomach flipped again. "I feel…like…shit!"

Letty chuckled softly and gave her shoulder a squeeze in response from where she sat perched on the side of the bath. "Girl, you _look_ like shit!"

That made Mia smile and then laugh as she sat back, having finally stopped emitting the contents of her body, resting her back against the side of the bath, alongside Letty, closing her eyes and leaning her head backwards. Donni closed the toilet lid and flushed then moving to supply a glass of water for Mia to swill out her mouth and sitting down on the shut toilet seat. She glanced over at her cousin, sat spent and exhausted on the hard wooden floor and snorted gently.

"This gonna be a regular occurrence then, I take it." she stated more than asked and Mia nodded her heavy head as Letty tucked a sweaty lock of her behind her ear, fondly.

"'Fraid so, Don." Mia sighed, taking a deep draught from the glass of water in her hands. "Sorry. I should be okay once I get used to everything. It's just with the move and everything, I-"

She was interrupted by and loud banging on the wall that ran between the bathroom and Dom and Letty's bedroom, turning all four sets of eyes to it as bits of plaster and dust sprinkled down in a light shower.

"Mia! Letty! You gonna keep it down!" Dom's voice was sleep contorted and loud though it was muffled slightly by the separating wall. "It's seven o'clock in the fucking morning!"

They shared open mouth looks of disbelief, horror and, in Letty's case complete and utter fury.

It was Letty who broke the silence first, standing in a swift, fluid motion and heading for the door.

"Right!" she growled, dangerously and Mia flashed Donni and Frankie and amused glance.

"This is _always_ the fun part." she announced in a whisper as Letty marched from the small bathroom and they shuffled to the door, poking theirs heads around into the landing and facing the direction of the up and coming 'battle'. "Dom'll never know what's hit him!"

-00000-

Dom squinted into the growing brightness of his room and waited. Silence. Beautiful, untainted silence.

He grinned to himself before resting his head back down onto Letty's pillow, breathing in her scent as he lay face down and sprawled across their bed.

Suddenly and without warning the bedroom door swung open so hard and fast that it smashed into the wall and dinted the plaster making it shatter.

"Dominic _Fucking_ Toretto!" Letty bawled, stalking towards him and Dom cringed, squeezing his eyes shut tighter, almost praying that he was dreaming.

Please let it be a dream! Please let it be a dream! Please let-

The stinging slap that caught him full throttle across the back of his bald head was more than enough proof that he was, unfortunately, awake…and he was about to get an ear bashing.

"Jesus Christ!" he snarled, pushing himself up onto his knees with one hand, while the other moved to cup his raw scalp. "What the hell was that for!" one of his eyes closed of it's own accord due to the pain and he fixed the other on Letty's incensed face as she stood beside him, hands planted firmly on her hips. Uh-oh. The _'Letty Power Stance'. _He was in deep shit. Bottomless shit. _Fathomless_ shit. Unimaginable amounts of-

"Fucking Hell!" he roared as Letty cuffed him again, this time harder and managing to catch his ear, making it throb and glow an angry crimson as blood rushed to the injury. He scooted out of her reach to the other side of the bed and glared at her as if she was a woman possessed. She _was_ a woman possessed!

"What the hell was that for!" he demanded a second time and cringed when Letty raised her hand, ready to strike again.

_Shit! _He thought_. Dominic Toretto, bad-assed ex-convict, King of the Streets, flinching from a girl! And not just _any_ girl, his _girlfriend_ no less! _He focused back onto her, her nostrils flaring, teeth gritted together and bared slightly, hair wild and streaming about her shoulders. Hell, if he hadn't been so afraid of her at that moment in time, he'd have jumped her!

"You are an asshole!" she snarled finally, jabbing a finger in his direction. "While you we're in here lazing around like a no-good _lout, _yelling your orders a people just so you can lay about some more, your _sister_, your _pregnant_, baby sister has been chugging her guts up and scared half to _death_ about it!" she paused to take in a desperate breath and scowl at Dom's shocked face.

"Letty, I-" he attempted to apologise but Letty wasn't about to allow him such any easy escape.

"Don't even bother, Dom! It's all sorted now. Mia doesn't even _need_ you fucking help or sympathy anymore, so you can just go back to what's most important to you." she smiled falsely and spoke with sarcasm dripping from her every syllable. "Your fucking self!"

With that she spun on her heel and stormed from the room, slamming the door closed on the way out and causing more plaster to fall from the ceiling like a snowdrift.

Dom sat, mouth open, one hand still cradling his head and the other his ear, for one of the only times in his 24 years, stunned into a gormless silence.

"Right…" he muttered slowly to himself. "That went well…"

-00000-

Dommy's in trouble! Dommy's in trouble! Hahaha! Well, he did deserve it…


	15. Chapter 15: The Boys Are Back in Town

Here is chapter 15. I'm sitting here at 2:00am…again! Drinking me Horlicks to try an' get me to sleep, lol! I had fun writing this one too. And finally, as you can probably tell from the title, we have a little arrival to look forwards to…hahaha! They're finally here!

Well, other than that, there's not much to say really about this chapter. The next one will probably be out next week sometime and will either be a Lance/Hikaru chap or the Team reunited. Not sure which.

Okey Dokey. Thanks for all you wonderful reviews. Glad you thought that one was funny. This one isn't as funny but lets just say that Dom gets his own back on Letty. Lol!

Well, Happy Reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 15: The Boys Are Back in Town.

Dom entered the kitchen several moments after his run-in with Letty, dressed in an un-ironed black vest top and his jeans from the previous day which were also creased from spending the night on the floor where Letty had tossed them.

Six heads glanced up to stare at him as he final graced them with his presence and he scowled as Mia and Frankie sniggered into their glasses of orange juice at his one bright red ear that still smarted from Letty's clip and Donni simply averted her eyes to the cracked ceiling, stifling the amused grin that wanted to break out onto her lips. Tino shot him a sympathetic glance from where he stood pulling on his work boots and Jesse sat on the backdoor step, rolling his early morning cigarette and oblivious to the events taking place in the kitchen as he hummed to himself with concentration. Letty's watch, however, blazed at him, meeting his own irritated gaze head on, tension crackling between them like static. She raised her chin, bold as brass. That was his Letty-never one to back down from a challenge.

"Good morning." he announced with exaggerated calmness, eyes sweeping warily over the four young women sat huddled together around the dining table. _Like witches over their cauldron_, Dom thought. No doubt brewing up something incredibly vicious to teach him a lesson.

Letty snorted at his nonchalant comment, sitting back in her seat and folding her arms behind her head causing Dom's old, grubby white T-shirt that she wore to rise up and reveal her navy blue and red striped sleep-shorts and long tanned legs. She still glared at him like a hawk, her jaw clenching and unclenching as she considered him from beneath her dark lashes.

The room remained silent until Tino had finished donning his work clothes and stood straight.

"Good luck, Cuz." he hissed in Dom's ear smugly as he moved past, patting him on his well muscled shoulder and turning his head back over his own shoulder to raise his eyebrows at the younger man as he stooped to kiss Frankie 'goodbye'. Obviously Tino was filled with glee that he was not the one in the firing line for a change.

"Yeah, yeah…" Dom muttered under his breath as his older cousin vacated the house, leaving for another day of lugging and laying bricks at the local construction site.

Dom stretched languidly, raising his arms above his head but keeping Letty in his sights from the corner of his eye, just in case she decided to come at him again for another attack. Slowly and cautiously he moved towards them, bending down to plant a kiss on the top of Mia's head and swipe a glass of orange juice from the table top.

"Feelin' any better, Mi?" he queried, giving her shoulder a squeeze as she turned to wrap her arms about his waist and hug him.

"Mia! Don't _do_ that!" Letty snarled, standing abruptly and causing all eyes to turn to her. "_He_ told you to shut up when you were sicking yourself inside out!"

Frankie swallowed with revulsion, pushing her bowl of cereal away from her, no longer hungry due to Letty's vivid descriptions.

"Sorry, Lett." Mia smiled, sheepishly. "He's my brother. I can never stay mad at him for long."

Letty glared at Mia, resting her weight forwards onto her hands which were splayed across the table before her. She breathed deeply through her nose making her nostrils flare again.

"Traitor…" she growled low, part seriously and part playfully at the younger girl before turning her eyes back to Dom and pointing at him. "You may be able to weasel your way back into Mia's good graces, but _I'm_ still mad at you." she declared in a deep, dangerous tone.

Dom grinned wide at her, smoothing his hand through Mia's hair as he moved forwards between her and Donni, resting his weight onto the table top much as his angry girlfriend was. His dark eyes glinted as he searched her face, taking in her ferocity, the fire in her that made her such a fighter and her eyes, normally soft, inviting brown, which suddenly sparkled like embers.

Letty opened her mouth to snipe at him again, eyebrows drawn together into a frown, but as she drew in a lungful of air, Dom leaned forwards further, swiftly and before she realised what he was doing, pressing his lips to hers and planting a large, wet kiss on her slightly open mouth.

She jerked backwards, frantically, her expression changing from ire to shock in a blaze across her features. She spluttered noisily, scrubbing at her mouth with the back of her wrist. "Dominic Toretto, you _so_ can't worm your way out of it _that_ easy! You _kicked _me out of bed this morning!" she attempted to snarl but her voice came out muffled and shaky as his actions began to have the desired effect upon her.

Dom beamed in triumph as Letty continued to wipe at her pursed lips with her eyes squinted shut, trying desperately and in vain to stop her knees from going weak and her heartbeat from kicking up a notch.

Finally she loosed a defeated roar of exasperation, swiping at him like she had in their bedroom causing Frankie and Mia to duck their heads out of the way. "You did that on purpose!"

Dom was faster, having learned from his earlier mistakes and grabbed her slim wrist, encompassing it entirely in his large palm. "Yeah…And?" he replied mockingly, flashing his broadening smile at her and not failing to notice how the anger within her was transforming into an emotion that was infinitely more fun for him…and less painful.

"_And_? What do you mean fucking '_and'_? And you-" she began to rant but Dom dragged her by her wrist so that she was leaning further over the table and laid a second, less chaste kiss upon her, cutting her off mid-sentence.

It took Letty remarkably longer to pull away from Dom the second time and when she eventually did, her eyes looked glazed and out of focus, as if she was somewhere else entirely or daydreaming and not in the bare wooden kitchen.

"You two wanna take it back upstairs? Some of us are tryin' to eat breakfast." Donni snorted, sending Frankie and Mia into fits of giggles but Letty could barely manage a coherent sentence, let alone offer a smart-assed retort.

"I-I-I-" she gabbled and then decided to cut her losses with her traitorously, inept speech, resorting instead to directing an unintelligible roar at Dom's smug face. She sat down onto her seat with a forceful plop that made the chair rock onto it's two back legs and slam forwards onto all four again, crossing her arms under her breasts and taking several gasping breaths in order to calm herself down.

Dom chuckled out loud and made to move around the table and grab her but a startled cry from Jesse made them all turn their heads towards him, attention drawn away from their games and bickering.

"Jesse? What's up, man?" Letty queried, moving from her seat over to where the younger man sat on the back steps, followed by the little entourage from the kitchen table.

Jesse stood, mouth agape and waved a shaking hand towards the driveway and a fresh cloud of red dust that was slowly beginning to settle.

"Dude, spill!" Letty demanded again, nudging him slightly with her bare foot and Jesse turned wide, worried blue eyes to her.

They all glanced at where he was pointing, to the side of the house in the direction that lead around to the front and the breath stilled in all their chests. Dom pushed his way past both Letty and Jesse, jogging down the back steps and moving determinedly towards where his young friend had been pointing.

Sure enough, scuffling of shoes against the gritty sand on the ground could be heard plainly and Dom turned and motioned for the others to return inside, just in case the visitor was undesirable.

They couldn't have followed him here…could they? No one knew where he was, of that he was certain-well, almost certain…

"Yo? Who's there?" he called, his deep voice betraying a little irritation and booming out around the large house of his cousins.

There was silence for several long moments until the shuffling feet came closer and Dom clenched his fists, ready to fight for the ones that he loved. To protect them from, whoever had sought him out.

Agonisingly time stretched out and even seemed to slow to a snail's pace as the confident footsteps drummed out a scratchy beat, heels grinding the pebbles and stones against each other. Then his long, dark silhouette turned the corner and his shadow blocked out the already scorching Mexican sun from Dom's face, relieving him from his constant squint that he had adopted since he had stepped outside.

He wore a faded red vest that was torn and pulled in places and a pair of loose-fitting jeans that were held onto his hips by a beaten and soft brown leather belt. He shoved his large hands into his pockets and shrugged, almost sheepishly, before stopping a few paces away from the larger man who stood, stunned into reticence. He gave a lopsided, world weary grin, though it was nervous and half hearted. His eyes desperately searched Dom's face for any response at all to his sudden arrival, though all he saw was complete and utter astonishment. He scrubbed at his bearded jaw with his right hand, before smoothing it back through his unruly hair and down to squeeze at the tense muscles in his neck.

"Whassup, Brother?" Vince said finally, opening his arm span as an invitation for Dom to respond. "How ya livin'?"

-00000-

What will Dom say? How's Leon? What about the arson attacks? All these things I'm tryin' to work out at the moment so any ideas are gratefully appreciated! Please read and review!


	16. Chapter 16: What Went Down

This chapter is a little shorter than the others, i just got a bit stuck towards the end. Hmmm, not entirely happy with it but I put it up so that i can keep going with the rest of the story.

Oh, this may be entirely random, but i re-watched tFatF the other night and i kinda noticed some weird interaction between Letty, Vince and Dom at the BBQ. Dunno whether it was just me but it was when Vince turned up after storming off. He replies to Leon that he's gotta eat and Letty says "He's always hungry." Was it just me or was there something _totally_ going on between them there? Perhaps i'm imagining things but Dom didn't look too happy, though that may have been because of the feud between V and Brian...Watch it again and let me know if i'm really going funny in the head or if you think there is sommat there. Would make a good fic if there was...hmmm...

Anywho, moving away from randomness. Thank you all for you great reviews, I really appreciate you all reading my stuff and telling me what you think. It's really turning into an epic, i'm not even half way through yet! Hopefully I'll be getting some action out soon, but the team have to settle down a bit first and Mia's story has a lot of developing to do before then. I'm actually quite excited about what i have planned for her and the twist i've got planned for Letty but i won't say anymore...wanna keep y'all guessing, lol.

Righto, Happy Reading.

Gem

xxx

Chapter 16: What Went Down.

"What? Don't I get a hug?" Vince chuckled slightly, attempting to dispel the sudden tension and disbelief that hung thickly in the hot morning air. "No proper Mexican welcome?"

Dom still remained mute, dazed eyes simply staring at his best friend almost as if he thought his mind was playing tricks on him due to lack of sleep.

It was Letty who broke the silence first, sensing the discomfort that radiated from Vince and Dom's sudden inability to actually speak. She hopped down the wooden steps two at a time regardless of her pyjamas and tiptoed towards Dom and Vince, wincing as the little chunks of stone and grit bit into her bare feet.

"What's shakin', Coyote!" she grinned, slugging him on the shoulder and laughing when he reached down and butted their heads together in the familiar greeting that they had used since she had been thirteen and he seventeen.

His navy blue eyes sparkled at her as their foreheads pressed against each other, silently thanking her. Letty had the innate ability to read people and situations. It had been how she had known that Dom had cheated on her with Johnny Tran's sister. It had been how she had known that there was something wrong before the last heist. It had even been how she had suspected that Mia was pregnant, though that may have been partly down to 'girl-issues' as Vince called them. But no matter what the situation was, Letty was _always_ the one who straightened it out, eased the tension a little, removed the focus from one person to another or one topic to another. She always saved the day in Vince's eyes.

"S'up, Letty-Dawg?" he responded finally, using his nickname for her that had been born of her desire to be one of the boys when they were younger. She laughed louder at that and stepped onto his booted toes to save her sore feet and winding her arms about his neck in a tight embrace.

"I'm a'ight, V. Things are good, y'know." she smiled before pulling away and clamping her hands onto his shoulders to steady herself. "Missed you, man. It's not been the same without you and Leon around makin' fools outta yourselves."

Vince laughed out loud at her teasing words, but trepidation lanced its way across his face in a flash that anyone else would have missed completely. Letty's keen watch, however, saw it and she took a step backwards to fix him with a questioning look.

"V? What's wrong?" she inquired, dark eyebrows knitting together in concern. "Vince? This got to do with why you're here?"

Vince swallowed hard and ran his large, work callused hands over his face, taking a deep breath before even daring to continue. When he did, however, his gaze was directed at Dom instead of young woman standing in front of him, asking him the questions that Dom didn't know how to.

"They came after us, Dom." he said in a low tone, taking a step past Letty and towards where Dom stood unmoving. "Some dip shit thug from the Tran's. Knew it was them. They torched the shop and the garage, Dawg. And they beat up Leon. Bad man. Real bad. We had to get out."

Letty swore harshly under her breath, fisting her hand into Vince's shirt and tugging it desperately so that he turned and looked down at her.

"Where's Leon? He's okay, right?" she demanded fiercely, her dark brown eyes filled with panic. "He's not...is he?"

"Naw, Let. He's in the car, sleeping. But he got hurt pretty bad. I patched him up as best as I knew how, but Mia better take a look at him. Just to be on the safe side."

Letty nodded her head and released a great whooshing sigh of relief, placing a hand against her heart as if to still it's worried beating.

"Letty." Dom spoke finally, causing Letty and Vince to turn and regard him, his voice low so that Frankie, Jesse, Mia and Donni who were spectating from the doorway, could not hear what was being said. "Go get Mia and the others and take care of Leon. Vince and I need to have a little chat." he shifted his eyes so that he could focus upon Letty.

She crossed her arms and frowned lightly already beginning to shake her head defiantly as Dom finished speaking.

"I want to hear it, Dom." she replied firmly. "I have a right to know. Leon and Vince are my friends too. You can't just-"

"Letty, I said go take care of Leon!" Dom cut her off roughly, punctuating each word through clenched teeth, and both Letty and Vince started in shock. "Now!" his eyes blazed at her, telling her that he meant business, and even though her scowl deepened at being dismissed so harshly, she nodded her head and did as he said. She knew not to push her luck when Dom got that look in his eyes, but her obedience didn't mean that she wouldn't be giving him hell about it later on.

"Whatever..." she muttered, waving a dismissive hand in irritation over her shoulder and turning her frown to the ground as she made her way back into the house, taking their audience with her through to the front door where Vince had parked his car.

Dom turned back to Vince when he was certain that they were all well out of earshot, narrowing his eyes at the man that he had grown up with.

"It was Tran?" he asked and Vince nodded his affirmation. "You're absolutely sure?"

"No doubt."

Dom capped a hand over his skull and rubbed at his skin which was already beginning to prickle with the intense heat of the morning. He let his head fall back and glared up into the sapphire blue sky, a thousand thoughts and worries flying through his mind.

They simply stood there for several long minutes. Dom staring at the sky almost questioningly, and Vince staring at Dom, worried of what he was about to say. Finally, his head leveled upon Vince once more.

"You see the guy that beat up Lee?" he rumbled and Vince nodded, clenching his jaw tight in remembrance.

"Yeah, I saw him." his voice came out tersely and Dom gave a single nod of his head, almost in approval.

"You make him pay?" that was the question. The one that Dom had wanted to ask without the girls and Jesse around so they didn't have to hear the answer, for he knew even without asking what Vince's reply would be. But he'd asked anyway, to hear it for himself, to have the satisfaction of listening to what pain Vince had wrought on the man who had dared to harm one of the Toretto Team.

"You know it." Vince replied, surprisingly jittery all of a sudden. "I had to stop him, Dom. I couldn't think of any other way. There was a chair leg and I just...couldn't stop. Felt like my blood was on fire."

Vince's large hands began to shake as he combed them back through his messy, lengthening hair finally clamping them under his arms in a feeble attempt at keeping them still. His eyes looked raw, rimmed with red and tension, haunted by what he had done to another man, another living being for the sake of his friend. Dom knew those feelings of guilt all too well. How the regret conflicted with the conviction that if he had to chose again whether he beat that man half to death, he wouldn't have changed a thing.

"I don't want to go down for this, Dominic." Vince barely whispered, his voice shaking and in that moment he sounded so unlike himself that Dom had to look back at him just to make sure that he was there. "I ain't goin' to prison for it." he shook his head forcefully, removing one hand from his armpit to gnaw nervously on his thumb nail.

"You won't." Dom replied, patting Vince on the back and wrapping his arm around his thick shoulders. "The Tran's wouldn't dare go to the cops. I bet you the guy you beat up was wanted for more crimes than you can think of."

Vince gave a half-hearted nod and sighed, glancing up at the large detached house.

"Nice place you got here." he grinned, changing the subject and beginning to look and sound a little more like his normal self. "Got room for a lazy ass and a cripple?"

Dom chuckled, squeezing his shoulders once more before shoving him away. "It ain't my house, V. Gotta see what Tino says 'bout that." he joked.

-00000-

The end of chapter 16. I know i need another Tran chapter, might try one next. Please tell me what you think!


	17. Chapter 17: Tran's Plans

I needed to have another chapter with Lance and Hikaru in, so this is what came out. I wanted to explain a little more about the Tran family life. I know that Johnny's dad wasn't all that bad in the film, i mean he did slap Johnny at one point but that was it. I just decided to develop on that a bit and that's how Hikaru came out. I made up the rest of his family and i do actually feel a bit sorry for them, the way I've written it. But they won't be playing a major part in it, probably won't be in any other chapters beyond a flying reference here and there.

I do actually quite enjoy writing Hikaru, he's so creepy...

Anyway, thanks for all of your reviews! I love them so much!

**southern cross- **thanks for your continuing reviews! Yep, i got them twists all planned out now, hahaha. As to Mia/Vince...i can't say...it'll spoil it, sorry! Lol!

**nosaparra- **thanks for your reviews! They're great. Yeah, the Letty/Vince thing I was presuming was before Dom and Letty got together too. It was just a weird little thing that i noticed one day and thought "how interesting...". Yeah...i'm slightly strange.

**Sweetest Addiction- **yay, everyone's together again, or they will be when Leon wakes up. Glad you like my Dom/Letty moments. I'm hoping that they're not too OOC but they kind of write themselves if you know what i mean. I don't have too much say in what goes on in each chapter.

**a- **glad you like my fic, and i'll be trying to update as often as possible. I want to get to the really good parts!

**GoSpeedGrrrl- **glad you found chapter 14 funny, i was seriously laughing my head off at like 2 in the morning writing that. Then again i always do laugh at my own jokes because no one else usually does.

**TotallyRiddickObsessed-** heh, glad you found chapter 14 funny. I just like writing Letty mad at Dom, it makes me giggle. But she won't be mad at him forever though.

Well, Happy Reading.

Gem

xxx

Chapter 17: Tran's Plans.

The evening air was warm and pleasant, filled with the subtle fragrances of rosemary and lavender, as Lance mounted the marble steps of his uncle's colossal residence with a decided spring in his limping stride. He could barely keep the triumphant smile from his face for longer than a few seconds as he straightened his dark crimson tie and smoothed down the lapels of his night black suit before pressing the doorbell and announcing his presence throughout the stunning property.

It was easily worth several million dollars, if not more, filled with many more rooms than were required for Hikaru Tran to live there comfortably with his wife and two daughters, all of which were painted in startling, crisp whites with floors of the most highly crafted and polished white marble that his uncle's ill-gotten fortune could buy. Then there was the land that accompanied the house. The gardens were so large that Lance was sure that there were places even the twenty gardeners had never before seen let alone tended to!

"Good evening, Sir."

Lance glanced up, drawn from his curious contemplations at the voice of his uncle's butler, suddenly realising that the front door had been answered and was now wide open revealing the long, high ceilinged reception hall.

"Thank you, Chen." Lance replied stepping through the large mahogany door and inside, past the small, thin, older man who stood straight backed and rigid, no doubt from Hikaru's almost dictatorial reign over his staff and family.

Chen bowed deeply to Lance and took small, shuffling, tentative steps through the huge hallway, leading the way towards the dining room, as if he was scared to make too much noise for fear of being punished. All who lived with or worked for Hikaru Tran knew that same fear. Even his wife and eldest daughter...if not especially them. His uncle was not beyond giving out a sound beating when he thought that the receiver deserved it and more often than not that role was filled by his wife and eldest daughter. Only little Jia Li was spared the wrath of Hikaru for she was the only one who had never 'disgraced' him, as he liked to put it. At the age of sixteen she was already developing her father's cold and callous ways...and Hikaru was very proud of that fact. Lance's aunt, Xue Fang, had apparently caused so much disgrace that Hikaru no longer needed a reason to beat her and so she played the part of the ever dutiful wife and took her punishment without so much as a whimper or a tear. Mei on the other hand, the elder of Lance's cousins, was mere weeks away from escaping the oppression of her father as she had agreed to wed the son of a prominent business partner of Hikaru's. She wasn't marrying for love, however. She had only consented so that she could escape the shame in which she lived in her parent's household. Her crime had been sleeping with a man out of wedlock and not just any man, no. The very man that had killed Hikaru's precious, and only, son. His heir. Lance had to agree with his uncle where Mei was concerned. Letting Dominic Toretto fuck her had turned her into a cheap whore and had sundered the name that was Tran. Everyone had been surprised when Hikaru's business partner had suggested the marriage of Mei to his son, though Lance had suspected that his uncle's 'persuasive ways' had something to do with it...or a _lot _to do with it.

"Sir?" Chen's soft voice broke Lance's thoughts a second time and he glanced up noticing that they had reached the wide, double doors of the dining room. "Master Tran is participating in his evening meal with his wife and daughters. Shall I announce your presence?" he queried, hands fisted and snapped firmly at his sides.

Lance gave a curt nod of affirmation and Chen bowed and pushed one of the doors open slightly so that he could slip in.

Several minutes passed before the butler returned, his left cheek burning a bright red from where Hikaru had more than likely struck him for disturbing his evening meal. He was a creature of routine, his uncle, and he thrived and prided himself on running his household and business like a well oiled machine...and he became very irate when things did not follow his schedule.

For the first time since he had discovered the whereabouts of Toretto and had decided to deliver the good news in person, Lance began to have second thoughts. Perhaps it would have been better if he had sent one of his incompetent lackeys to-

Before he could finish his train of thought, the door opened and Lance took a step backwards, swallowing the nervous lump that had risen chokingly in his throat.

His aunt and Mei scuttled past him, eyes trained on the ground devotedly, both nodding at him lightly as they went by and hurried to their rooms. Probably glad to be out from Hikaru's commanding presence for a change. Then came Jia Li, skipping and with a broad smile on her pretty but ruthless face.

"Bye Daddy." she sang, waving back into the room over her shoulder, then scowling at Lance as she continued to skip away.

Lance took a deep breath, suppressing the fear that tingled in his chest. He had to do it now. He couldn't keep Hikaru waiting. That would gain a worse punishment than interrupting him would.

Slowly he limped into the long dining room.

-00000-

He sipped at his red wine, swilling it around in his mouth, savouring the tart flavour before swallowing it down and swirling the remainder of his drink about his glass. His dark eyes glittered over the rim at the smartly dressed, young man standing nervously before him, shuffling from foot to foot.

Hikaru Tran raised a dark, well shaped eyebrow and cleared his throat, drawing his nephew's uncomfortable glance.

"Please tell me that you have a good reason for interrupting my evening meal with my family." he said coldly, placing his glass down onto the table with a clink and lacing his fingers together.

Lance stuttered slightly returning his gaze to the crimson rug that ran beneath the dining table.

"Come one! I don't have all night!" Hikaru snapped, ire making his tone sharp and causing Lance to jolt, his face pale.

"I know where they are." he announced simply and suddenly, heaving a sigh of relief almost as he forced the words out and into the open.

Hikaru raised his eyebrows again, though this time in mild curiosity.

"Oh?" he asked nonchalantly, stabbing at the remained of his meal with his chopsticks and placing the rice into his mouth very nearly daintily.

"Yes, uncle." Lance replied with a fervent nod. "They have travelled down to San Felipe in Baja, Mexico. Dominic Toretto has family there."

Hikaru's face and mood blackened at the mention of the man who had brought shame upon his family twice over. He needed to pay, and the revelation that he was staying with family just gave Hikaru more ways to hurt him in the way that he had hurt Johnny and Mei. He turned his attention to his meal again, as if Lance wasn't present, until he had cleared his plate and sat back, satisfied. He took a deep drink from his wine glass, downing the remainder and then finally turning his gaze back to his nephew.

"San Felipe?" he mused resting his body weight forwards onto his elbows upon the tabletop. "With family you say?"

"Y-yes, uncle." Lance responded, staring at the carpet again.

Slowly Hikaru clasped his hands together, fingers interlacing. "With family? What family?"

"I do not know as of yet, uncle." Lance replied, inwardly cringing in anticipation of his uncle's reprimand. But surprisingly, it didn't come. Instead Hikaru gave a cold smile, standing and moving down the length of the long dining room to where Lance almost cowered. He slipped his arm about Lance's shoulders and laughed, the noise floating to the high, vaulted ceiling and then resounding back down to their ears.

"It is of little matter who they are. This is a marvellous turn of events!" he beamed and before Lance realised it, they were walking. "Now you have the perfect means by which to hurt Toretto the way he has hurt our family." Hikaru's long, thin fingers bit into Lance's shoulder mercilessly and the younger man had to repress a cry, swallowing it back down deep inside to keep it from escaping his lips. "You are to find him. Find him and shame his sister and his whore like he did my daughter. And kill his friends like he killed my son. And break his family like he almost succeeded in breaking mine." Hikaru's words came out through clenched teeth, icy and stabbing and making Lance flinch with every syllable.

They had reached the front door, he realised suddenly, glancing up at the impressive carpentry as Hikaru pushed the door outwards and firmly moved Lance out on the step.

"Oh, yes. There was something else." he said suddenly, gripping onto the door as if he was about to slam it in his nephew's face. "Today, what you did at the garage-"

"I can explain about Finney, uncle!" Lance spluttered, fear etching it's pale way over his features as he reached out to place a hand on Hikaru's arm.

His uncle paused, glancing down at the hand that he had dared to touch him with, in disdain, and Lance withdrew it as if he had been scalded. Finally, Hikaru took a deep breath and raised his black eyes to meet Lance's brown, terrified ones.

"I was going to say that there may still be hope for you yet, nephew." he gave a sly, one-sided smirk before closing the door and leaving Lance standing dazed upon the stone steps in the suddenly chill night air.

-00000-

Ooooh! Hikaru's such a bully...but he's soooo much fun to write. The next chapter...hmm, not to sure what's gonna happen but Leon wakes up for sure and he and Vince meet the Toretto Cousins. Please read, review, criticise and all that jazz!


	18. Chapter 18: Together Again

Okay, I apologise now if this chapter is really random and really bad because I was supremely pissed off when I was writing it. Went into work today, boss decided he was going to wax my eyebrows (don't ask…long story…you don't wanna know…). Foolishly I let him……and now I am the proud owner of one eyebrow that is thinner than the other…am not amused!

Right, well, other than that I had fun with this chapter again. Leon wakes up and that's about your lot. It was a little bit of fun for me to write and let me blow off some steam after the eyebrow incident.

The next chapter will be better, I promise. Tino is gonna get the shock of his life when he comes home and finds Vince and Leon livin' it up in his house. Hahaha! I can have soooo much fun with that.

Thanks for everyone who is reviewing, hope that the lack of events in this chapter isn't too off-putting.

**pips24-** That's cool, I'm just glad that you're reading my stuff. Feel free to review whenever the fancy takes you. Who will Donni like? That would be telling, but it's a _big_ twist, let me tell you that!

Happy Reading.

Gem

xxx

Chapter 18: Together Again.

Bright, blinding light stabbed into his eyes causing the already excruciating headache that pounded in the base of his skull, to flare and encompass his entire head.

"Fuck..." he groaned, attempting to roll over but a hand shot out to steady him gently before he could fall off the edge of the car seat.

"Take it easy, Leon." Vince's voice reached his ringing ears, but Leon was still unable to focus upon anything in the blaring light. He turned his head into the direction that he thought that Vince was, trying to pull himself to sit upright, but again Vince's large hand pressed against his tender shoulder and lightly, but firmly, forced him back down onto the back seat of the civic.

Leon scrubbed at his eyes and blinked furiously until the inside of the car came into focus, albeit blearily. He was staring at the black leather ceiling, rays of the morning sun filtering in through the rolled down windows and making hot golden patterns on it.

"Shit, where are we?" he queried groggily, turning to glance at Vince again, though he was not only met by the face of the man that had saved his ass.

"Thank God, your awake, man!" Jesse gasped, sitting back on his heels where he knelt on the front passenger seat.

"Yeah, we were beginning to worry 'bout you, Lee." Letty added leaning in through the open window of the drivers side door.

"You had me scared, brother!" Vince drew in a deep breath and stepped back, out of the car so that Dom could take his place.

"Glad to have you with us again, Lee." he grinned a classic Dom grin that made Leon temporarily forget the pain that scrabbled up and down his stiff back. Dom's large hands moved down to hook under his armpits and he helped Leon to shuffle out of the back of the car and to stand swaying in the fresh air. He breathed in deeply, clutching at Dom to keep himself from crashing to the ground and relishing the feeling of the warm breeze on his sticky, sweat covered skin as Vince moved up to his other side and looped his arm about Leon's waist.

"You think you can manage them steps, Hop-along?" Vince teased, nodding in the direction of the mammoth house.

"I can manage without your little pet-names, _Pumpkin_!" Leon snorted in response causing Dom to laugh out loud, his large shoulders sending their amused shaking through to Leon as he supported him.

Perhaps it was lack of sleep that made the rest of the Team follow suit and join Dom's wild laughter. Perhaps it was the heat of the Mexican sun or maybe it was relief that they were all safe and together again finally. Maybe it was a mixture of all three but whatever it was, it made Leon grin wide with a happiness that he hadn't felt in years. That was until Dom and Vince moved and the pain returned with a vengeance to bite him in the ass.

-00000-

Mia and Donni scuttled around the house collecting bits and pieces from the many incomplete and under stocked first aid kits that where dotted about. They only stopped their mad rush when Dom and Vince staggered in supporting Leon between them, kicking the front door open so that it smashed back into the wall with a loud crack that drew a cringe from Donni and made her mutter something under her breath about them ruining the paintwork.

"Watch ma gonads!" Leon howled, flinching as Dom went one way and Vince the other.

"Left, V! _Left_!" Dom bellowed as Vince moved to his right, taking half of Leon's body with him while Dom still held onto the other side. "Your other _fucking_ left, numbskull!"

"_Your_ left or _my_ left?" Vince snarled in return and Mia stifled a laugh with her hand over her mouth.

"Vince. Your left and Dom's left are both the same direction." she chuckled and Vince's face flushed red beneath his scratchy beard as he looked at her for the first time since he had arrived. His jaw flapped open a few times but nothing came out causing him to huff and snap his mouth shut firmly.

"Just move your ass, _this_ way!" Dom broke in, nodding to the sofa with his head and Vince coughed in embarrassment and shuffled in tandem with Dom to where Donni was plumping up the pillows ready for the injured Leon.

"I swear, they're like the Three Stooges." Letty snorted so that only Mia could hear her, as she and Jesse entered the house and stood watching the spectacle of the two larger men trying in vain to coordinate their cumbersome movements and place Leon down without causing him anymore pain than they already were.

Mia shook her head and swatted at Letty playfully who raised her eyebrows in an innocent gesture.

"They're _trying_ to help." Mia announced, raising her own eyebrows though she had to fight desperately to keep her amusement down to a mere giggle.

"Oh _that's_ what they're doing!" Letty gasped sarcastically, smacking her palm to her forehead as if she had only just realised what they were attempting to do. "I thought they were tryin' to make a wish!" she pointed to where Dom and Vince each had an arm around Leon's back and one under the crook of his knees, making them look like they were indeed fighting to snap a giant wishbone in two.

Mia let out a blaring laugh, slapping her hand across her mouth and Letty nudged her with her elbow a few times, only setting her off into more hysterics until neither of them could breath properly and Letty made small choking noises instead of laughs.

Dom gave a confused frown and stood up straight once Leon was settled, though Leon's face was contorted into agony due to their heavy handed conduct.

"You two gonna help anytime soon? Or are you just gonna stand there and piss your pants?" he growled though they knew he wasn't really angry.

"Yeah, stow it already, Jesus!" Vince shook his head. "Leon's in pain and all you two can do is stand there and laugh your asses off!"

Letty snorted, finally able to breath properly again, folding her arms and matching her own glower to Vince's frowning face.

"We're not laughing at Leon, _Vincent_. We're laughing at you two and how hopeless you are." she retorted and Vince rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath and earning a rather unsavoury hand gesture from Letty.

"Alright, children!" Donni interrupted, stepping between them and raising her hands, a palm directed towards each. "Can we, like, _focus_ for half a minute? Injured guy comes first." she pointed at Leon for emphasis and then folded her arms much like an irate school teacher would when lecturing a delinquent student.

"Thank you…whoever you are." Leon replied with an exaggerated gratitude and Donni smiled at him, holding out her hand for him to shake.

"Donni. I'm Dom's and Mia's cousin." she replied.

"Leon." he returned with a lopsided grin, letting his gaze sweep over the Italian woman still clasping his hand. "And I'm _very_ pleased to meet _you_."

Donni, narrowed her eyes slightly at his words in amusement, letting her own eyes do a bit of wandering. Though he was badly beaten up, bloody, black and blue, he was an attractive young man. Insanely attractive, she noted.

"I'm _very_ pleased to meet _you_, too." she responded, placing as much emphasis upon her words as Leon had.

"Oh, _please_!" Letty mumbled under her breath, lifting her eyes to the ceiling and moving away to where Jesse and Dom stood chatting by the still open front door, wisely keeping out of the way.

Vince simply shrugged, thrusting his hands into his pockets. Inside, he was grinning, however. Just bickering with Letty again, hearing her and Mia laughing and joking and making fun of him, Leon and Dom like they use to, made him realise how much he had missed his family while they had been separated. And now, finally, they were getting back to normal.

"V?" Leon's voice disturbed his thoughts and made him glance over his shoulder at the bruised young man, sprawled across the worn out sofa and being fussed over by the two women.

"What, dawg?" Vince asked turning to him fully.

Leon's face split into a mischievous grin and he pointed an accusing finger into his direction.

"You're smiling, brother." he teased and Vince quickly replace his softened features with a scowl.

"No I ain't!" he snapped but Leon's own smile simply widened knowingly. "I ain't smilin', man!" Vince insisted again.

"Don't worry, Coyote. I'm glad we're all back together again, too." Leon tossed him a wink before gasping and cringing away from where Mia and Donni were prodding at the rather nasty looking split on his eyebrow. "Christ! A little warning next time you plan on dissecting me, girls!" he growled at them drawing an irritated scowl from Mia.

"Stop moving around, Leon." she responded haughtily, ignoring his protests and squirming by holding his head still between her hands and allowing Donni to dab at his cut with antiseptic.

The scream that left Leon's throat would have made anyone unfortunate enough to hear it, believe that he was actually being murdered instead of having a cut cleaned gently. He continued to yell out and tried to slap Donni's and Mia's hands away from him but to no avail.

"Leon, stop being such a baby!" Mia growled, sounding for once in her life, so remarkably like Dom that Leon stilled instantly, eyes wide with almost horror, and Letty, Dom and Jesse whipped their heads into her direction. "That's better."

Leon fell into a sulking silence, folding his arms across his chest and frowning at Mia as she and her cousin continued their assault, checking him over.

Vince barked out a laugh, pointing at his friend as he did so. "Sucks to be you, dawg!" he hooted, his finger flailing around in the air as his shoulders shook with mirth.

"Yeah." Leon spat back, sourly, wincing as Mia prodded at the bruise that ringed his right eye. "It does!"

-00000-

Tino comes home in the next chapter. Gonna jump forwards in time a bit to the evening. I promise that I am getting closer to Mia's twist. Letty's one is still quite a way off, but the Mia one should be starting soon. Very soon in fact…Hope you liked this chappie. Please read and review.


	19. Chapter 19: Lean On Me

This chapter was going to be Tino meeting Leon and Vince but this came out instead. I've had quite a few amusing chapters recently so I thought I'd stick this one in. It's a bit deeper than the rest. It certainly had me thinking. I hope it's alright and not too OOC for Dom and Letty. I don't think it is…but if it is sorry. I needed to explain a bit more about their relationship back in L.A, coz in the film they had a very spur of the moment kinda thing going. First they would argue, then they would be having away with it. I guess that sums up Dom and Letty full stop but I always thought there must be some reasons behind it, something that made them that way. Well, this chapter is my attempt at fathoming out the enigma that is Dom and Letty. Hope you like it.

Right, well, thankies to you all for your reviews! I know I say it every time but I do really love and appreciate them. They really spur me on to write better chapters.

**nosaparra- ** yeah, I have been pretty zippy with the ol' posts lately. It's coz I'm desperately trying to put off doing my animation, lol! Glad you liked that chapter.

**southern cross- **wow, glad you like it so much! I'm trying to keep my updates coming coz I really want to get into the juicier storylines. I mean I've already written the epilogue so I know where it's all going. I just want to get it all out now, but I would have to be super woman to get everything that I want to out! As to the question about Mia? I've given a little hint in this chapter as to what's going to happen with her. Ha ha! I'm soooo evil!

**a- **don't worry I'm not killing anyone off. I can't guarantee anything else though…

**pips24- **I've just got some story arcs that I'm planning on writing. You didn't think I was going to give the Team an easy ride now did you? Yep, Evil is my middle name!

Hokey cokey. Happy Reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 19: Lean On Me.

Letty had spent the majority of the day catching up with Vince and Leon. Laughing and joking the way they had back in L.A, though when she asked about the events back at the shop and garage both of the older men became tight lipped, only giving a vague and brief overview of what had gone down. No doubt Dom had warned them not to go into too much detail, instead taking all of the worries of the entire team onto his own broad shoulders.

Letty glanced up from where she sat sprawled on the sofa beside Leon who had fallen into another exhausted sleep. Frankie had tried her hardest to wrangle a day off from school due to the events of the morning but Donni remained firm and had driven her there herself, much to Frankie's fury. Once Frankie had left the house, Jesse had scrambled off to his beloved laptop, the only thing that could keep his attention for more than five minutes…besides Frankie. Vince had long since moved away to talk with Mia and Donni, when she returned from the school run, in the kitchen area as they prepared lunch. Dom, however, was nowhere to be seen. More than likely he had disappeared somewhere to try and shoulder the burdens of them all alone, as he always did. Never once did he realise that the Team was there to _help_ him carry those burdens, to heft some of the weight of problems that they had created. They had gotten into the trouble together, as a Team. Why Dom thought that they shouldn't have to bear that trouble together was beyond Letty.

She sighed, grabbing Leon's wrist and twisting it so that she could see the dial on his watch.

"Comin' up for two o'clock." she muttered to herself, dropping Leon's wrist and causing him to grunt in his sleep and turn over, almost kicking her as he did so. She gave his unconscious form a sad smile as she stood and straightened out her black cargo pants that she had rolled up to the knee in an attempt to keep cool and Dom's old shirt that she still wore. Leon hadn't deserved all of this shit. None of them had really.

She stretched out her stiff muscles and yawned, heading towards the back door passing Donni and Vince who were getting on like a house on fire much to Mia's only barely concealed disgruntlement. She pushed the door open and padded out onto the wooden decking stopping at the sight of Dom leaning against the paddock fence, head in his large hands as if the world was about to end.

He looked so lost, so despairing as he rested his weight onto his elbows upon the fence. Only once before had she seen him so utterly distressed that watching him made her heart ache. The day of his father's funeral.

Mia had been too upset to play her usual role organising everything. She had tried, though. Desperately she had tried to keep up appearances, but in the end Letty had understood and taken the reigns from the younger girl. She hadn't needed the extra pressure of organising the funeral and the wake when all she wanted to do, all she was _supposed_ to do was grieve. Letty knew that all consuming desolation only too well having had to bury both of her parents at the age of seventeen after a car accident, and so she knew exactly what Mia and Dom had needed.

Letty swallowed at the memory and moved away from where she stood, leant against one of the wooden veranda pillars, and moved slowly and quietly down the steps towards Dom, cursing herself silently for forgetting to put her shoes on again.

Dom's head turned at her approach, glancing over his large, slumped shoulder and then turning back to staring at the horses that pranced about, frisky in the heat of the afternoon.

"You're gonna hurt your feet like that." he stated, his voice deadpan but Letty continued to his side regardless.

"I'll live." she responded with a shrug, stopping and leaning onto the fence beside him, though not touching. Dom always needed his personal space.

They fell into silence for long moments, simply watching the three horses as they nipped at each other playfully and sprinted away in a wild game of tag.

Finally Dom lifted his heavy head from his hands and sent Letty a sideways glance, breaking the quiet as he cleared his thick throat.

"How's Leon?" he asked, voice rough and he coughed to clear it before asking the question again.

"Sleepin'." Letty replied still looking out into the field. "Same old Leon. Vince is having fun with your cousin." she smiled to herself at that, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face. "Leon's gonna be fine, Dom. We're _all _gonna be fine. But…" she turned to face him, folding her arms and leaning her shoulder against the fence. "But _you _are gonna burn yourself out if you carry on like this."

Dom cocked an eyebrow in what was supposed to be an amused expression but he failed miserably, only looking more lost than before.

"Carry on like what?" he asked finally, abandoning his attempt at light heartedness but still trying to keep his emotions from Letty.

"Bottling stuff up and shit." she replied, her voice raising a little in volume though not as loud as it had been that morning when she had been mad with him. "You do it every single time, Dom. Every single time! Why do you think that you have to solve all our problems for us?"

Dom turned to look at her fully, partly startled by her question but Letty continued before he could get a word in edgeways.

"Don't _even_ deny it, Dom. We both know that it won't work with me. You might be able to hide it from Mia and the guys but you can't keep it from me." she locked eyes with him for a little longer, then turning to glance back out at the horizon. "I know you too damn well for you to be able to pull shit like that with me."

Dom sighed and pressed his fingers into the corners of his eyes, rubbing at them to relieve the weariness that he felt to his very core. He was tired. Too tired to argue with Letty as she seemed intent on doing.

"I can't deal with this shit right now, Letty." he warned, rubbing the heel of his palm into his left eye when his fingers proved to be quite useless at relieving the fatigue.

"Then tell me about it!" she pleaded, dark eyebrows drawn together in desperation. "You're just one man, Dom. You may be King of the Streets, you may think that you're the big _'I am' _but you're still only one man. You can't take the worries of five other people on as well as your own. You're gonna make yourself ill!"

Dom shook his head even as the words fell from her lips and he took her shoulders in his hands, holding her at arms length.

"I have to, Letty! It's my job!" he replied, tension colouring his tone as his eyes stared straight into hers, as if he was glimpsing her thoughts through her wide pupils. "It's my fault! This whole entire mess is my fucking fault!" he let his hands drop and stormed a few paces away, planting his hands on his hips as he kept his back to her. "I was the one who dealt with the Tran's. I was the one who suggested the heists. I was the one who said Brian was okay. I was the one who insisted upon going after that last truck and almost got you and Vince killed. I was the one who told Leon and Vince to stay in L.A and sell off the businesses when it should have been my job." he paused his furious rant to turn his face to the cloudless sky as if looking for the answers up in the endless blue. "Every single thing that has happened to this Team has been my doing. I brought it down on our heads, Letty, and I very well may had killed all our asses if the Tran's ever find out where we are."

Letty was silent for several long moments, simply standing stunned that Dom had revealed so much to her. Then she snorted, letting it spiral out into full laughter and causing Dom to whirl around suddenly to glare at her.

"Don't flatter yourself, Dominic Toretto." she retorted, ignoring the anger that was growing on his face. "You didn't do any of that."

Dom opened his mouth to snap a reply at her but Letty cut him off again.

"_We_ did it. The _Team_ did it. Not you. Not anyone person. All of us. Together." her eyes were fierce as she spoke and Dom felt unable to do anything but listen to her. "First off, Tran was a shit-head. He was always gonna rope you in somehow just because of the.." Letty swallowed and her teeth clench for a split second, her deep brown eyes turning cold. "Because of the incident with his sister."

"Letty, you know that was a-" Dom began, fearfully, raising his hands towards her.

"Mistake?" she queried, cocking her head to one side with a sad smile. "Yeah, I know. I got over it a long time ago, Dom. You don't have to worry about me kicking up shit from the past, but just hear me out."

Dom nodded his accordance and fell silent once more as Letty took a deep breath and continued.

"Mei Tran would not have gone out of her way to get you pissed off your face and into her bed if I hadn't been the cocky little bitch that I was. She has always disliked me and I've always disliked her, from when we were in school together. So, in the end, the whole thing with you and Mei was less to do with her sleeping with _you_ and more to do with her sleeping with _my_ man." she cleared her throat before shaking her inky haired head and continuing, making sure that her voice didn't quaver and betray how the event still troubled her four years on. "Anyway, Tran was always going to try and get you back for that. As for the heists? We all agreed to them, Dom. We wouldn't have gone along with you if we hadn't. The thought of a little extra money on the side caught all of our attention and we're all to blame for that. Now, O'Connor." Letty paused and gave a lopsided smirk. "O'Connor is Mia's fault." she laughed at that. "I could tell the moment I saw him and Mia together in the shop that she wanted to get into his pants."

Dom gave a pained expression

"Please, Letty! That's my sister!" he groaned and Letty laughed all the more.

Finally she sobered, and rested her head onto her left shoulder as she watched Dom carefully.

"All I'm saying is that all this shit is _our_ making. Let us help clean it up." she shrugged and fell silent, waiting with baited breath for Dom's reply. Knowing how stubborn he was, she didn't hold out much hope that her little speech had done a lot of good but she'd had to try. Watching Dom go through hell alone was far worse for Letty than actually dealing with the problems herself.

"I don't want anyone to have to worry anymore." he growled out after several heartbeats, his face determined and fixed in the stoic expression that meant he wasn't about to negotiate on that issue. "I don't want Mia to have to pick up the pieces like she has so many times for us all. All I want her to be concerned with is bringing that baby into the world. She's still a kid and I want her to have at least a little bit of that carefree life that kids are supposed to have before the baby is born."

Letty nodded in agreement and remained quiet, letting Dom take his time as he continued, pointing his large, powerful hand towards the house.

"Jesse has just recovered from being shot. He almost died and he's dealt with enough shit to last _all_ of us a lifetime. Vince almost lost his arm, was shot in his side and almost beat a man twice his size to death just to stop the fucker from killing Leon. They have dealt with their fair share of crap, Letty." he paused taking in a deep breath before continuing, turning back towards the paddock once more. "It's my turn to take care of it all now. I can't take back what happened in the past but I _can_ make sure that they have a stress free future. I can do that much for them at least."

Letty sighed and rubbed a hand over her frowning forehead in an attempt to relieve it of the tension behind her temples. Dom was an obstinate one, alright, and she could feel irritation tingling in her aching mind.

"Fine, Dom. You want to be all cryptic and shit, go ahead. Be my fucking guest. You don't want to tell me what is happening, that's alright by me!" her voice was turbulent, full of frustration, but as Dom turned his head to look at her, her eyes softened and she smoothed the palm of her hand up over his tight, stiff back to rest at the base of his neck. "But you've got to understand that as much as you want to help the Team, I want to help you. You can't do it all alone, as much as you want to." she moved her hand up to cup his cheek, smoothing her thumb across it as tenderly as she knew how. Their relationship had been fiery from the very start and little tenderness had been displayed throughout it's entirety, but at that moment Letty knew that they needed a little bit of gentleness every now and again just to remind them that it didn't always have to be about the passion and lust. She was there beside Dom and he was there beside her, no matter what or who had interfered with them in the past. They were still there together and were both too stubborn to leave the other if nothing else. It was that tenacity that saw them through, and was what would see them through again.

She took a step away from him, her hand slipping from his face, spreading her arms wide and inviting him to look at her properly.

"Okay, so you don't want to speak about what happened to Leon and Vince in L.A. You don't want to talk about what you think will happen to us if the Tran's ever find us. You don't want to talk about the why's, or the how's, or the who's. That's all okay. Just…" she hesitated for a split second, unsure whether her words were having any effect upon his pride whatsoever. "Just let me in a little bit, okay? If you won't let me help you out with the other stuff, take a little bit of worry from your shoulders, let me at least help you worry about our future."

"Safe. That's what our future is gonna be. Lets leave it at that." Dom responded and Letty gritted her teeth and growled out in aggravation, clenching her hands into fists at her sides.

"Alright, Dom. Lets put this in a way that you're gonna understand." she bit out, a frown darkening her eyes as she glared at him. "You have no control over me. You have no control over the Team either, but first things first, you can't write my future down for me and expect me to be happy about it." her gaze shifted again, turning instead to pleading, desperation for him to talk to her properly clear in their dark depths. "I want to be a part of building our new life together. I want to have a say. I want to help you decide whether we're gonna open a new garage down here. Whether we're gonna stay in the same house as your cousins and the Team forever or get a place of our own someday. Whether we're gonna help Jesse to go back to school and get some qualifications coz that boys is hot with talent. Whether Mia is gonna paint the baby's nursery yellow, pink or blue." she smiled at all of the events that she listed and Dom smiled with her. "What I'm saying is, I don't want to be watching on the sidelines anymore, like I was in L.A. I wanna be a contender in this race."

Dom considered Letty carefully as she finished speaking, taking in not only the resolute light that shone in her eyes but also the frantic desire to reach him with her words. They had never really talked, never got all their problems and worries out into the open and perhaps that was where their relationship had started to go pear-shaped. That was when the fights had started and if it hadn't been for the last heist, they would have probably been long since broken up. That was one good thing that had come out of the whole mess that Tran, Brian and the heists had landed them in. It had given them the perfect excuse to take themselves away from the drama, extract themselves from the things that had begun to sunder their relationship together. It had given them a second chance…to start over.

Dom's smile widened as his thoughts swirled around and he stepped towards Letty, pulling her close suddenly and clamping his arms around her as if he would never let her go again.

"When did you get so fucking smart?" he chuckled in her ear and Letty made a noise of mock irritation, though she wrapped her own arms securely about his waist, her head resting underneath his chin snugly.

"I've always been this smart." she retorted, her voice muffled by Dom's chest. "You just never paid me any attention."

She regretted saying the words almost as soon as they had fallen from her lips as she felt Dom stiffen. They both knew that her words were closer to the truth than was comfortable but there was no escaping the fact that she had finally spoken them and that they were blatant reality. In L.A Dom's life had only had room for one thing. The love of the race. Perhaps that was why Letty had flipped every time that he had spoken to another woman. At least they were something real for her to focus her anger at being second best in Dom's life upon. How could she fight a feeling? How could she fight against the freedom that racing gave him?

They held onto each other for a moment longer before Dom pulled away and clasped her shoulders tightly again, looking down into her eye, sincerity clear in his own gaze.

"It's gonna be different this time around, Letty. I swear on my father's grave. I almost lost you once, don't think for a second that I'd risk it ever again." his voice was low, barely more than a rumble from deep in his chest and Letty could do no more than nod her head. "I'll try my hardest to talk to you more. I do want your help, Lett. It's just hard for me to ask for it."

"I know." she muttered and they lapsed into another silence, though this one was less charged and more comfortable than the others as they had both reached an understanding. They were partners again. Not Letty on the sidelines and Dom on the starting line, but both of them, side-by-side, ready to put pedal to the metal and create a life that they both wanted to live.

Suddenly Dom's face split into a wide beaming grin and Letty raised her eyebrows in bewilderment.

"Blue." he said simply.

"Blue?" she asked, wrinkling her nose in confusion. "Blue, what?" she prompted when receiving no further answer and Dom laughed to himself.

"Mia's nursery." he illuminated with his infamous cocky grin. "Gonna paint it blue. She's going to have a boy, I just know it."

"No way!" Letty retorted with a scoff. "I bet you any money she has a girl!"

Dom tossed his head back a mocking blast of laughter, before wrapping his arm about Letty's shoulder and steering them back towards the house.

"Boy." he replied but lightening quick Letty spat out her own response.

"Girl!"

"Boy!"

"Girl!"

"Boy!"

"Girl! Girl! Girl!" Letty chanted, grinning up at him as he narrowed his eyes feigning anger at her and swatted her on the backside, sending her up the veranda steps before him.

-00000-

Hope you liked that one. I couldn't stop writing it when I had started. I even missed watching blinkin' 'Hell's Kitchen' for it! Argh! No! Come back Jean-Christoph Nouvelli! Okay…yes…ahem…please read and review!


	20. Chapter 20: Turning the Tables

Woohoo! A Mia chapter. I never thought I'd actually get inspire to write one from her perspective but here it is and it just came flowing out. Hope that it's okay and I'm sorry for the excessive use of the 'F' word. It just was necessary to show how desperate Mia is actually feeling at this point in the story. I hope you all don't hate me too much for the way that this is going and don't hate Donni too much either, I'm trying my damnedest to make her not so perfect but it's very hard. Argh. Any tips and I will be forever in your debt!

Righty, tell me what you reckon. I know the story is going along pretty slowly and I'm still debating how much time is actually going to pass from beginning to end, but I'm getting there.

Thankies to all you who reviewed! Yay! I loves you all!

**a- **thanks for continuing to review, hope you like this one!

**sweetest addiction- **yay! I'm glad you liked that one. Yes, I love writing Dom and Letty so it's safe to say that there are going to be many more Dom/Letty chapters later on. Though not all of them are going to be as happy I'm afraid…

**southern cross- **whether Dom sticks to his promise or not remains to be seen but as to the choosing the gender of Mia's baby? I've already decided, but that's a long way off yet. Thankies for reviewing!

**nosaparra- **glad you liked that one, I enjoyed writing it, hope this one is okay too.

Hokay! Happy Reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 20: Turning the Tables.

Mia glanced up at Dom and Letty as they entered the house, laughing and play fighting, from where she was scowling at the plate of sandwiches that she and Donni had made for lunch. Well, that _she_ had made really-Donni had spent the entire time flirting like nobody's business with Vince! With Vince who had flirted back, _shamelessly_. It made an emotion that had lain dormant for so long in Mia that she nearly couldn't place it, burn in her chest with a renewed fervour. Nearly being the operative word. Jealousy. She didn't mind admitting it to herself. She was jealous that Vince's attentions had suddenly been stolen from her, attentions that had been _solely_ for her for the best part of the past four years.

At first she had thought that it was simply because Vince and Donni had never met before and were trying to be polite to each other and get along. But that theory hadn't lasted for long when they had started getting on a little _too_ well for Mia's liking. He hung on Donni's every single word, laughing at her jokes and finishing off the ends of her sentences, bringing a smile to her older cousin's face. And Donni was just as bad, if not worse! Pushing him playfully in the shoulder when he made a smart-assed remark and flashing her dazzling smile that had made many men go weak at the knees before that day.

Mia grit her teeth together a little harder, the squealing of bone against bone almost, but not quite, drowning out the playful banter of the two who leant up against the kitchen counter behind her. She looked up at Letty and Dom, hoping for a reprieve from the incessant flirting and immediately wished that she hadn't.

Letty grinned like she never had in the past few years, her hair mussed and bedraggled as she wrestled with Dom, throwing mock punches and kicks at him and dodging his wide arm span. And Dom grinned back, catching her flying fists in his palms and holding onto them to prevent her escape, a never before seen deviousness flashing in his dark eyes.

Mia rolled her own deep brown eyes, irritation tingling even stronger in her chest and making her jaw contract a little more. She should have been happy for them really. Shit, she should have been fucking ecstatic! Her brother and Letty had been fighting like cat and dog since way before the last heist and their little display that very morning had had her convinced that they were always going to be at each other's throats. But she simply wasn't in the mood to be happy for them. Everyone always thought of her as good, kind little Mia, who loved everyone and would never say 'boo' to a goose! Well they were fucking wrong! She got just as shitty as the next person and her hormones weren't helping matters at that particular moment…neither was Vince.

What was that, with Vince all of a sudden? She'd been quite adamant that she hadn't liked him back in L.A when he had been chasing her like a greyhound after a rabbit. Shit, she'd turned him down so many times that she had lost count. But, he starts showing a little interest in her cousin and out from _fucking_ nowhere she felt like she wanted to rip his _fucking_ balls off for even _talking_ to another woman!

She shook her head and knuckled at her eyes, attempting to tell herself that it was simply her hormones. Yeah…just the hormones.

"Y'okay, Mia?" Letty beamed at her from the other side of the kitchen table, Dom's arms securely fastened about her waist as he rested his chin on her right shoulder and smirked at his baby sister. "Feeling better now?"

"I'm fine." Mia responded curtly, pushing the plate of sandwiches into the centre of the table and moving away to wash her hands, just so that she didn't have to witness the suddenly nauseating interactions between Dom and Letty, and Vince and Donni.

She opened her mouth to question Mia further, sensing that something was not quite right with the younger girl and Mia braced herself for the no doubt excessively vigilant questioning. Instead, however, Letty loosed a roar of surprise making all eyes turn in their direction.

It seemed that Dom had taken a new lease of life after their little 'talk', hefting her over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing, like he used to when they had been first going out and Letty had been barely out of school. He flashed a conspiratorial grin at Vince and tossed Mia and Donni a wink before slapping Letty on the ass and giving her a jolt to keep her in place upon his broad shoulder.

"Don't you fucking _dare_, Dom!" Letty screeched, her face turning red as all of the blood rushing to her upside down head. "I _mean_ it!"

Mia heard Donni chuckle as she nudged Vince with her elbow and muttered something to him that made him join her laughter.

Vince _never_ laughed so easily! Never! Fuck! She was losing him…her Vince. She'd not had a kind word to say to him in months and yet her heart was breaking at the thought that he may have found love for someone else…her cousin no less! But she was getting paranoid. Vince had had girlfriends before, none lasting longer than a week or two at the most. What was to say that it wouldn't be the same with Donni? And Donni was as much of a player as he was. Yes, she didn't need to panic just yet. It wasn't like they had even admitted to liking each other, and they'd only met a few hours ago.

Mia stole a glance at Vince from the corner of her eye to see his dark blue eyes intent on Donni's smiling face as she looked on at Dom and Letty's antics. He'd never had that look in his eye for any other girl before…only when he had looked at Mia. He was only supposed to look at _her_ like that!

"Dom, put me the hell down! I want my lunch! I'm hungry!" Letty's voice crept up a notch as she realised what exactly Dom was planning to do for the rest of the afternoon. She struggled in vain and Dom only laughed, boosting her further over his shoulder. He turned around so that his back and Letty faced the tabletop.

"Go on then. Grab me a sandwich while you're there." he ordered and Letty grinned, reaching down and taking a sandwich in each hand, one for her and one for Dom.

"Alright. Come on then. Get that ass moving! High-ho silver!" she feigned impatience at Dom as he began making his way towards the stairs. "Later, people."

"Come tell me when Tino gets in from work." Dom called back over his shoulder and Donni rolled her eyes, nodding her head and waving a hand in dismissal at him. "I need to talk to him. I need to talk to everyone actually."

"Yeah, yeah!" Donni growled causing Vince to smirk behind his hand. "Now piss off before I throw up!"

Dom only replied with a wider grin, if that was at all possible, and took off up the stairs two at a time, with Letty yelling and bobbing precariously from where she hung over his back.

"Not seen 'em like that since they first got it together." Vince commented to Donni and she smiled back at him. "It's great to see them so happy together again. Coming down to Baja is just what they needed to get themselves back on track. They deserve to be allowed to just love each other, without the interruptions that they were having back in L.A. They just weren't right before."

Donni turned to glance at Vince properly, scrutinising him slightly, cocking her head to one side. Finally she chuckled and shook her head.

"You puzzle me, Vince." she said suddenly and Vince gave her a questioning look that spurred her speech onwards. "I mean, you're so caring about your friends, you're so funny and laidback. Why ain't you got yourself a girl like my psycho of a cousin has?"

Mia almost dropped the plate that she was taking over to Leon at Donni's words but she regained her composure, placing the food down beside the still sleeping, injured man. This was really it. She was losing Vince completely…and she couldn't do a thing about it. She'd been trying all morning and failing to hold his attention for more than a few minutes at a time and even when he did speak to her, his eyes always followed Donni's movements.

Fucking hell. Mia had to refrain from leaping over the kitchen counter and punching her cousin square in the face like Letty had taught her to do when she'd been having problems with bullies at school. So desperately she wanted to scream at Donni and rip out her hair and then kick Vince in the balls…but she couldn't bring herself to hate either one of them, if she was being truthful. That was what was making it ten million times worse for her to deal with. Instead of being able to hate her competition, she loved Donni like an older sister. She was family after all and Dom was always ranting and raving about how family are always there for each other. Always. No matter what. And Vince? Vince was suddenly in her heart. No word of warning. No little crush to begin with like Letty had borne for Dom since the girl had been ten years old. No. Simply seeing him again made her feel emotions that she had thought that she would never ever feel again after Brian's betrayal.

Brian…Shit, why did she have to go and think of him? She had fucked up big this time. Perhaps even irreparably. Christ, if he hadn't turned up she wouldn't be pregnant and she probably would have given Vince the chance that he had been begging for over and over again. Instead she had flaunted Brian in front of him like a prize stallion and not given a shit about what Vince had been feeling inside. Fuck, if it was anything remotely like what she was experiencing, she didn't know how he had coped!

Vince's deep laugh rumbling through the muggy air brought Mia out of her contemplations and turned her attention, unwilling back to him and her cousin.

"I ain't never found the right girl." he replied to Donni's question and Mia felt as if her heart had plummeted through her stomach down to her feet. _She_ was supposed to be his 'right girl'!

I didn't rain in Mia's world, oh no, but it _fucking_ poured!

"I'm going for a walk!" Mia snapped, cutting off any reply that Donni had been about to make to Vince and the two turned to watch her storm from the house and out into the blaring sunshine, taking off at a brisk, determined stride towards the paddock gate and letting herself into the massive expanse of land that they owned.

"What's up with Mia?" Vince wondered aloud, scratching at his beard and grabbing up a sandwich from the large plate in the centre of the table. Donni folded her arms across her chest, wedging her hands under her arms and shrugging, leaning back against the kitchen cupboards.

"I think it's her hormones. She's a little down, you know, with the baby and everything. It's a lot for a girl of nineteen to cope with on her own."

Vince nodded his head slowly in understanding as he chewed. "Maybe I should go talk to her…" he mused but Donni shook her head, laying her hand on his forearm gently.

"Just let her cool off a bit. When she wants someone to talk to, she'll initiate it. You can't force her to speak to you, it'll just make her feel crowded. It was the same with Frankie's mom...before she ran off with the postman that is."

Vince nodded his head again and turned his smile back to Donni, taking another bite of his food.

"You're a _very_ wise woman, Donni." he stated in a low, alluring tone, quirking an eyebrow at her and Donni replied with another of her dazzling smiles.

"I know." she retorted.

-00000-

Poor Mia, she's got it rough! I'm so wicked, aren't I? Please tell me what you reckon.


	21. Chapter 21: The New Game Plan

Well, here is chapter 21. Sorry about the wait. It looks like I won't be getting anymore chapters out for the next three weeks or so as I'm coming to the end of my time at uni and I have just three weeks to finish off a five minute animation of which I have only completed about 20 seconds…yep, I'm gonna be pulling a few all nighters. Sucks to be me at this moment…

Okay, enough of me moaning. I like the Dom/Letty parts of this chapter, but the end…i'm not too keen on it, but it has taken me so long to pen it, I wanted to get something out at least. Hope it's not too disappointing.

Thank you for all your great reviews! I love 'em loads!

**Jada91- **Yep, Mia is definitely having her mood swings. Lol. Things are gonna get ugly when she really gets hormonal!

**a-** I did decide against having Brian in this story but…who knows what my brain will spit out in the future. Glad you're liking the Dom/Lettyness, hope this chapter satisfies a bit more of that need!

**nosaparra- **Yay for Vince! I like him! He deserves to be the centre of attention for once, I think!

**southern cross- **Oh there is mucho torment for a certain someone, mentioning no names (cough-Mia-cough, cough!), glad you like the Dom/Letty stuff, they're so fun to write. Keep reading and you'll find out what Dom has to say…

**pips24- **Yay, I'm glad you like Donni and Vince together, I was worried that it would come across too cliché. I'm gonna try and make Donni different to all the usually girls you get that Vince falls in love with.

Righteo! Happy Reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 21: The New Game Plan.

Tino sighed deeply, stretching out the tired and aching muscles of his back as he climbed the veranda steps, his work boots clunking out a rhythm on the sun-bleached wood. The day's hot air was beginning to cool and Tino, for one, was grateful for a respite from the blazing heat under which he had slaved all day. Slowly, wearily, he turned the key in the lock and was met by unfamiliar, blaring laughter.

Two men sat side-by-side on his sofa, sipping at his beers and focused entirely upon his small television set in the corner of the room, cheering and laughing at what sounded like a football match. One looked like he had been run over repeatedly, covered from head to toe in bruises and lacerations, and the other, who was belching rather charmingly at that particular moment, looked like he had spent the majority of his life living on a park bench.

"Who the _fuck _are you?" Tino bellowed, swinging the door open and causing the two men to practically leap a foot off the sofa in fright.

"Jesus Christ, Dawg! Chill!" Vince growled, holding a hand to his heart as if to stop it from popping out of his chest and landing on the floor in front of them. "Who the hell are _you_, anyway?"

Tino's face looked like thunder, his nostrils wide and flaring.

"This is _my_ fucking house!" he roared, balling his work stained fists at his sides as if he was about to lash out at Vince who regarded him warily. "I fucking _live_ here!"

-00000-

Dom lay on his front, head pillowed on one arm while the other moved so that his fingers could tease a light trail up and down Letty's spine. Sleep had claimed her from him for the moment, turning her breathing slow, steady and deliberate, though not into the colossal snores that he was used to every night of the week. She only snored when she was sleeping lightly, however, and that was generally just after she had fallen into blissful unconsciousness or right before she was drawn back into the land of the living from her own little dream world.

Many times he had lain beside her, watching her as she slept, wondering what it was that she dreamt of. She used to tell him her dreams when they had been younger, before he had been sent to prison, before they had even got together. She would crawl out from underneath the car that she and her father were working on and slip down beside him as he sat with his back against the door of his latest job, drawing her knees up to her then flat chest, chin resting perfectly between her kneecaps. Most of the time her dreams were of the cars that she wanted to own if she ever got a hold of the money. She had always dreamed of owning a proper 'double-oh-seven', James Bond style, Austin Martin Vanquish imported from Britain, and with the top speed of 195 miles per hour _without_ NOS, he couldn't blame her. She had expensive taste for the scrawny little tomboy who spent her younger days knocking around the rougher areas of the neighbourhood. But if she had begged him for it, hell, even if she had given the slightest little hint that she had wanted it, Dom would have gone hell-for-leather to get her that Vanquish in a heartbeat.

Other times she spoke of opening her own garage with her Papi, a father-daughter enterprise and Dom's father had joked that he would have to give the pair of them a pay-rise soon if he didn't want to lose his two best mechanics and turn them into the competition. Then her parents had been killed in a car crash and Little Letty the Blabbermouth, who no one could shut up for love nor money, became Letty the Silent. Letty the Introvert. Letty the Desolate. And it didn't just stop there. Barely two months later Dom's own father had died in a racing accident and he had been sent to Lompoc prison for beating the man who had caused the fatal crash, almost to death. They'd not spoken about their dreams or desires since before that God awful year, the year that almost tore the Team apart.

Her smooth tanned expanse of back was partially facing him as she lay on her front also, her head turned away from him and the fiery glare of dieing sunlight from the wide, open window that allowed a warm breeze to slink in and cover their slowly calming bodies in a cooling embrace.

He wanted it to change so desperately, wanted to make Letty happy again, to keep her laughing as much as she had been over the past two days. Even after such a short time out of the city of Los Angeles, she was beginning to let herself go a bit more. She wasn't constantly on her guard for women on the prowl after him, she didn't snap at everyone as if she had constant PMT. Instead she was concerned about how he was coping, how he was feeling and she talked to him.

Most meaningful conversations between them had stopped after barely a year of going out together…after the incident with Mei Tran, Johnny Tran's sister and not a day went by that Dom didn't want to kick himself in the ass for allowing himself to fall into that situation. It had been all too easy for Mei to slip a few choice 'pills' into his glass of beer when he hadn't been paying attention, she had admitted as much to Letty when she'd unwittingly stumbled in on them together in the throes of a drug induced passion.

He had almost lost her then. Nearly lost the most important person in his entire messed up life. But they'd scraped through it somehow. He wasn't even sure what had possessed her to stay with him after that little stunt, but he wasn't about to complain. In fact he quite frequently counted his blessings.

Following '_The Incident_' Dom had stuck to drinking Corona's from the bottle with his thumb pressed firmly over the mouth of it when he was not knocking it back. He was never careless when it came to alcohol after that. He didn't need to give Letty _another_ excuse to leave his sorry ass.

She sighed in her sleep, her breathing changing again into her familiar, rumbling snores that made a smile tug at the corners of Dom's lips as she was drawn out of her slumber. As much as her snoring kept him awake at night and woke him early in the morning, he loved to listen to it. The sound that was so completely her, and amusing to say the least.

His fingertips chased their way down to the small of her back and then back up again to the nape of her neck, brushing her dark, chaotic waves of hair from the way and revealing her father's dog-tags that had twisted their way over her shoulder about her neck and lay flush against the warm skin of her back. She squirmed slightly beneath his feather light touch, still too under the vestiges of sleep to realise that it was him who was disturbing her from her dreams.

She muttered into her pillow, her words contorted with sleep and sounding vaguely along the lines of something offensive and aimed at him for disturbing her and his smile widened. His fingers stopped their teasing and she settled back down, another snore shaking her slender, bronzed shoulders. Carefully, and with a roguish grin, he leaned down, substituting his work calloused fingers for gentle kisses following the same path up and down her spine.

Letty's entire body shuddered.

"Dom, stop touching me or I'll effin' _bite_ you!" she snapped, her voice thick and irate and Dom laughed out loud, causing her to push her upper body up off the mattress and flip over to fix him with a bleary eyed, squinting glare.

"That's not very nice…you promise?" he teased, returning his hand to smoothing up and down her back, retrieving her dog-tags from where they lay and twisting them around so that they resumed their rightful position between her breasts. She breathed in deeply through her nose, brow furrowed, sitting back onto her heels and scrubbing at her tired eyes.

"Just coz you can't sleep doesn't mean that you can disturb me." she retorted. Her hands ran back through her bedraggled hair and she yawned wide, making her eyes water involuntarily.

"Sorry." Dom replied simply, propping himself up onto one elbow to watch her as she woke up properly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" she mumbled through a second yawn, wiping at her smarting eyes before blinking at Dom again. "What time is it anyway? I'm hungry again."

Dom had barely opened his mouth to reply when yelling from downstairs interrupted him, pulling both of their gazes away from each other and to the direction of the door. They held their breath, listening intently until a loud crash filled the hot evening air and made Dom spring into action, pulling his clothes on.

"Holy shit!" he hissed. "I bet you any money that _that_ fucking noise is from Vince and Tino!"

-00000-

They all sat in silence, staring at the plates of spaghetti as Donni served it out, the only noises that broke the quiet being a small, muttered and rather half-hearted 'thank you' every now and again.

Finally, she placed the massive serving dish down into the centre of the table and took her place beside Mia and Frankie and opposite a battered and bruised looking Vince who caught her eye by trying to wink at her covertly, wincing as the purplish skin around his eye stretched painfully. She smirked at him, stifling it when she heard her brother's disapproving cough and turned instead to her dish.

Tino hadn't fared much better during their egotistical little scrap, coming away with a bloody nose and a split lip. It had taken Dom to hold back Vince and Donni, Letty, Frankie and Jesse to gain control of Tino though both men had struggled relentlessly against their captors, desperate to be free and at each other's throats again over the most trivial of issues. They were like two stags butting their horns together to see who was the best. Men.

"Don't you have something to say, Vince?" Dom asked pointedly after a long, mute awkwardness, glaring at his friend who had been content to simply shovel his dinner into his mouth, oblivious to the uncomfortable situation around the table. He looked up, spaghetti trailing from the corner of his mouth and he stilled, eyes widening as he realised what Dom was talking about. He swallowed swiftly and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, turning towards Tino who regarded him coolly.

"Look, Dawg. I'm sorry for, you know, beatin' on ya." Vince coughed out in a gruff voice that was meant to disguise his apology. He shrugged his shoulders and rubbed at the back of his neck nervously.

Tino stayed unmoving and silent for a long time before he took in Donni's look of pleading. She didn't want anymore trouble that evening and Tino was more than happy to oblige her. Vince packed a hell of a punch and he had just worked a full day at the local building site. He was too tired for a second round.

"S'all right, man." he countered finally, in a similar tone. "Sorry for going off on one. S'just, the last time I saw a man I didn't know in my house, he was banging my wife."

"Dad! I'm trying to eat!" Frankie complained, shoving her food away, disgustedly and Tino gave her an apologetic pat on her head, which she shirked angrily.

He and Vince glanced at each other over the tabletop for several more minutes before they each puffed up their chests in an attempt to appear manly and reached out to shake hands firmly.

Donni rolled her eyes at Letty and Mia, mouthing silently the word "_men!" _and causing Letty to chuckle through a mouthful and quickly take a drink of her water when her food caught at the back of her throat. Mia however offered merely a weak smile and turned back to toy with her food, absentmindedly.

Something was bothering the youngest of her cousins. Something that had happened within the space of the past day and Donni was at a loss as to what it was. She had told Vince earlier that it was Mia's hormones and he had believed her. Perhaps it was all to do with her impending pregnancy, Donni really wasn't sure, but whatever it was had changed Mia's attitude towards her dramatically.

Mia noticed Donni's concerned stare and cleared her throat, looking at Dom as he chewed at his meal and conversed quietly with Letty every so often, for a distraction.

"So, Dom. What did you want to speak to us all about?" Mia queried, placing her cutlery down and pushing her barely touched food away from her.

Dom glanced up at her words, allowing his gaze to flow from his sister and around each person sat at the table. His family. Some family by blood. Others by friendship. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. Now was as good a time as any to drop the bomb, right?

He cleared his throat and placed his fork down almost reverently.

"I wanted to discuss our future." he stated, flashing a glance at Letty, silently telling her that he had taken her words earlier that day to heart. "Letty thinks that I'm trying to carry everyone's burdens for them and she's right-"

"I'm always right." she muttered under her breath with a cocky smirk and Dom fixed her with a glare, pointing a finger at her warningly.

"We're all okay for the time being. We can cope. Tino has offered to let us live here, with him and we have the money from selling the house and our cars. But that's all the money that we have. None of us are working, the garage and shop are long gone and I ain't gonna risk going back to L.A to claim insurance. I'd rather take the loss and move on." he paused to take a sip of water in order to relieve his parched throat and Letty nodded her accordance, lacing her fingers through his and giving his had a reassuring squeeze that spurred him on.

"So we cut our losses?" Mia asked unsure. "That's a lot of money we're losing, Dom. Plus it was Dad's garage."

Vince leaned across the table and covered Mia's slender hand with a squeeze much as Letty had with Dom. His large, rough thumb smoothed across her knuckles and made her glance up at him. It was the first sign of affection that he had shown towards since he had arrived and suddenly the breath caught painfully in her chest, her heart stilling as his touch send unexpected shock waves through her entire body.

"The garage ain't more than a burnt out shell now, Mi." he murmured softly and Mia cast her eyes down to the table, more to stop her recent emotions from being read than anything else. "Besides," he continued, his tone turning brisk and cheerful. "Your Pa loved that garage, yes, but he wouldn'ta wanted Dom to risk his freedom and his life for some lousy insurance money. It is only material possessions after all. Shit like money and the businesses can always be replaced. But a brother and a friend? Nah. Them's hard to come by."

Mia swallowed as she continued to stare at the table and nodded, allowing his words to float around her head. He was so truthful. So adamant in what he believed in and she admired him for that.

A hush fell over the table again and Dom took the opportunity to resume his speech with a deep inhalation. He flashed a final glance at Letty before opening his mouth to speak again.

"I want to run an idea past you guys." he admitted, cupping his shaven head with his free hand and rubbing it as if his head were aching. "I want you to tell me what you really think."

Leon raised his split eyebrows at Jesse who responded with a shrug.

"Shoot, Dawg." he said, a little confused as to what was troubling Dom. "We're all ears. Y'know you can tell us anything, man."

The silence panned out around them for what seemed an eternity as the powerful man worked up the nerve to actually voice what was going through his mind. He opened his mouth to begin a few times but the words stuck in his throat.

"Just say it, Dom." Mia sighed impatiently, breaking the quite and Dom nodded.

"I want to use the money from the house to start up a new garage." he stated and cheers went up from Jesse, Leon and Vince. "But that's not all." he continued and they stifled their joy to listen to him again. "I love you three guys like brothers, you know that right? Shit, you _are_ my brothers!"

Vince's navy blue gaze turned suspicious. "Yeah…" he replied warily and Dom smiled.

"You know that I share everything with you. What's mine is yours, yeah?"

"Yeah…" Vince responded again, Leon and Jesse simply falling silent in order to hear what Dom was getting at.

Dom chuckled to himself, rubbing at his forehead again. "But, some day you're all gonna want to get married, settle down, have kids and move out and shit like that. And that's what I want for you all." he swivelled in his seat suddenly, without warning, facing Letty who was looking between Dom and Vince in perplexity. She obviously hadn't figured out what Dom was about to say, and he was immensely grateful for that fact. "Letty, however, is always gonna be with me, I know that for sure and that is why I hope you three won't be too mad at me when I say that I want Letty to be a partner in the new garage."

-00000-

Please gimme a review…or two…tralala! Yes, the excessive work load has addled my brain…


	22. Chapter 22: Little Details

Okay, I said that I wouldn't be doing anymore chapters for a couple of weeks. I lied. I need to unwind some way and writing this fic lets me escape the horror that is my life at the present. I really should be animating but who cares? Wish me luck in getting it finished…

Anyway, thankies for all of your reviews. Heh. Was that a little bit of a surprise in the last one? I thought it was quite original of me (haha!) I don't think I've read one fic where Dom asks Letty to be his business partner.

**nosaparra- **glad you liked it. Hope this one is okay. Thanks for continuing to review!

**southern cross- **thanks for your reviews! Ha ha! Little bit of a surprise was that chapter? Glad you enjoyed it. I really had fun writing it. I just had to add the bit about Letty's dreams, probably coz I would love to own a Vanquish myself, lol. I think it's safe for me to say without spoiling the story too much that I am preparing to introduce the love triangle between Vince, Mia and Donni. What happens though is still pretty much a mystery at the moment. Yep, Tino hasn't hooked up with anyone but neither has Leon, though he has made it clear-ish that he likes Donni too. Tino…he is a **big** piece of one of my story arcs…that's all that I can say at present without totally spoiling the surprise.

**a- **Thanks for your review. You'll just have to see what happens with Dom and Letty but there may be trouble ahead…

**dieselrodriguez- **Yay! Thanks for your review. I'm glad you liked the Dom/Letty stuff!

**pips24- **As you wish! More is here. Thanks for reviewing.

**tori2085- **Yep, Dom seems to be straightening himself out…but you know what they say two steps forwards one step back. Thanks for your review. Glad you liked.

Righty, Happy Reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 22: Little Details.

To say that she was surprised was possibly the understatement of the century. Words could not describe the absolute shock that pulsed through her body, pumped by her suddenly racing heart that beat as if it had just received a NOS injection.

At first she had thought that he was horsing around, teasing her because of her words earlier that day about helping him look after the Team. But then she had seen the slack-jawed stares of Vince, Leon and Jesse, their dinners forgotten entirely, and she had known. Dominic Toretto, the man who strove for supremacy over all-even his own team members, the man who's pride wouldn't allow him to settle for second-best or a 'back seat' in anything, had just asked her to be his business partner…and he was deadly serious.

Letty had to force herself to remember to breathe, placing her hands, splayed, onto the table either side of her plate for support.

"H-holy shit!" she managed to choke out finally. "You're fucking serious!" she glanced up at Dom properly, noticing the nervousness flickering across his features, his ebony eyebrows drawing together into swooping arcs of concern. Then it hit her. He thought that she was going to turn him down and refuse his offer.

Letty's shocked, gaping mouth transformed into a wide smirk, her dark brown eyes glinting at him as she watched his face intently.

"Dom. Babe. I think you just stole my heart all over again!" she beamed wider until her cheeks began to ache.

"Is that a 'yes'?" Dom queried with a deep rumble and Letty didn't need to be looking at him to hear the smile in his tone. She cocked a sarcastic eyebrow at him and he loosed a 'whoop' loud enough to make the rooms other occupants jump in fright.

"That _is _a 'yes'!" he crowed, dragging Letty from her seat to her feet and spinning her around in wide, fast circles until he accidentally bashed her into the table and they both staggered from dizziness.

"Congrats, Letty-Dawg." Leon spoke first, tossing her a lopsided grin. "'Bout time Dom promoted you for all those hours of…ahem…_overtime_ that you put in."

Letty scowled at him, knowing exactly what he was insinuating but before she could lay into him, Jesse started babbling, drawing her attention away from the now sniggering Leon.

"It's great, Lett." he enthused. "I'm looking forwards to you being my boss."

His exuberance made her chuckle.

"You're only looking forwards to it, 'coz I let you get away with bloody murder when Dom's not around." she replied and Leon leaned around the back of Vince, nudged the younger man with the elbow of his good arm, laughing that Letty was right and sending Jesse into a, mock-sulk.

"Shit, Brother, you do know that as well as 'Mr. Testosterone' riding our asses for our work, we'll now have 'Little Miss PDPMT' going after us with the slave-drivers whip as well!" Vince growled, breaking his silence, with a wicked, teasing grin aimed at Letty who half-raised herself from her seat, playfully threatening with a high fist to beat him up.

"PDPMT?" Frankie questioned, wrinkling her nose in confusion and flushing pink shyly when the large, rugged man turned his dark blue gaze onto her.

"Pre, During and Post Menstrual Tension." he illuminated with a wink that made Frankie toy nervously with her dark brown hair, looking for some sort of distraction. "It's my experience that all women on the Toretto Team have _that_ little disorder." Vince turned his eyes to Mia, offering her a brief wink like he had with Frankie, before settling his smouldering stare onto Donni. "I'll have to do a few…_experiments _to see if it applies to all Toretto women in general…" he trailed off, waving a hand dismissively and Donni narrowed her eyes at him, humouring him with a slightly amused smile until Tino interrupted with a strategically timed fake cough.

"So, Dom." he said, clearing his throat and shooting Vince a warning glance, then turning his focus to the eldest of his cousins at the opposite end of the table. "What are you planning on doing for money until you find your new property? It's gonna take a good few months to find the right deal and more to get the actual business up, running and turning in a profit. Seriously, Cuz, if I could afford to feed you all free of charge I would in a heartbeat." he raised his hands in an apologetic gesture before continuing with a sigh. "But money is tight, Dom, you know that yourself and you can see the state that the house is in."

Dom nodded, sobering slightly from his euphoria at Letty's acceptance of his proposal. "I hear you, Tino." he nodded again, with a weary sigh not unlike Tino's. "If we're gonna make this work, Letty, Vince, Jesse and I are going to have to find part time work."

Both Mia and Leon made noises of indignation at being left out of the equation and Dom fixed them with a stoic glare that meant his word was law.

"Don't even go there." he growled at them, pointing first at his sister and then swinging it towards Leon. "Leon you're bust up to hell and Mia, I don't want you stressing in your condition." he turned away from them to Tino who was pretending to consider their possibilities while he was actually attempting to keep out of their little spat.

"Dom, stop being a jerk!" Mia cried furiously, slapping her hand down onto the tabletop and causing her glass of water to shudder violently. "I'm only pregnant by two months at the most. I'm perfectly capable of working for a long time yet."

Dom opened his mouth to protest again but Donni jumped in even before the first word had formed as a growl in his throat.

"Mia's right, Dom. Frankie's mother worked right up until the last month of her pregnancy." she stated and Dom glared at her, gritting his teeth together in frustration. "Look, I own a bar in town and I'm a couple of hands short at the moment. One's pissed off to go to University in Washington and the other has opened her own business not ten minutes down the road. I've only just put out the job vacancy ads so I could go and retract it and take on-"

Dom shook his head and interrupted Donni before she could finish speaking.

"I'm not having Mia working in a bar. She pregnant for Christ's sake. What happens if some fucker gets pissed off his face and decides that he's gonna get rowdy?" Dom shook his head furiously a second time. "Nu-uh. No way."

Donni took a deep, steadying breath and dampened her temper, which had flared at Dom's stubbornness, as best as she could.

"Alright, fine. I'll hire Letty and Vince or Jesse." she retorted, leaning back in her seat and folding her arms across her chest. "They can come with me when I go to work tonight and I'll show them the ropes."

Dom considered the idea carefully with a dubious scowl plastered firmly across his features. He obviously didn't want Letty working in the bar either, despite the fact that it was owned by Donni and that Letty had probably been to parties that were worse than anything that could happen in a bar.

"Come on, Dom. It's perfect!" Letty gave an incredulous growl, fixing him with a meaningful glare. "Donni's putting her ass on the line for us by offering us jobs." she gave him a firm shove on his shoulder as if to wake him up to the brilliance of the opportunity.

"Alright." Dom allowed finally, giving in underneath the weight of all of their stares, yet still with some reluctance. "But," he continued, raising his finger and levelling it upon Letty. "Only if it's Vince that Donni hires. Jesse can get a part time job in some shop or something. I want Vince to go to keep an eye on _you_!"

Letty raised an irritated eyebrow at him in response. "Feel the need to keep tabs on me, do you?" she asked with a furious sneer, her voice edging up in volume and Dom winced. She was getting mad with him…again. Shit! And after all of his efforts trying to make her happy and get her in a good mood.

"No!" he defended indignantly and Letty knew from the tone of his voice that she had hit the nail right on the head. Busted. "I just want to make sure that you don't beat anyone up." he joked, trying to lighten the mood again and Letty narrowed her eyes at him, pursing her lips and simply glaring at him for a long moment.

"Fine." she growled in the end and Dom heaved a sigh of relief only to have her stab her finger into his shoulder, making him jolt. "But I'm only going along with this and giving you and easy ride 'coz _you_ are in my good graces today." she permitted a smile to tingle on her lips and leaned across the table, to her right, fisting a hand in the front of Dom's still creased black tank top and dragging him over to lay a kiss of 'thanks' upon him. Dom acquiesced immediately, deepening the kiss, grateful that her temper had been doused before it could blaze to it's usual heights of fury. He leaned in further, cupping the back of her neck with his right hand, the pair of the oblivious entirely to the groans and rolled eyes of the others that sat about the table. They only broke apart when Frankie started making loud, vomiting noises and she shot them a cheeky grin when they frowned over at her breathlessly.

"What?" she demanded, innocently with a shrug. "You guys need to get a room 'coz you're putting me off my food!"

Vince bawled with laughter, tossing his head back and placing his hands upon his stomach as it shook with mirth.

"Kiddo, _you_ are priceless!" he chuckled, turning in his seat to Jesse and slapping him on his back hard, sending the slim young man jostling forwards into the table. "Keep a hold on this one, Jess. She's a Cracker!" he grinned teasingly and Jesse's face flushed a profuse shade of crimson.

"She's not my girl, V." he muttered through clenched teeth, hiding his face with one hand and shooting wary glances at Tino from between his fingers.

"Oh, okay. You should make her your girl then, boy. She's a riot." Vince continued turning to his meal and feigning nonchalance as Jesse sunk down as deep into his seat as he could go and Frankie pretended not to be paying attention, though the slight colouring of her cheeks suggested that she was.

"Yes, well." Tino cleared his throat as he had earlier and glanced around the table, intent on changing the subject. "Who wants dessert?"

-00000-

Hope you like this one, now I really must go do some animation. Wish me luck!


	23. Chapter 23: Offending the Car Gods

Hellooooo! Long time no see! Sorry it's been so long since I last updated but I've been having a rough time with university…I've actually failed part of my course and so I have to work on it over the summer (when I'm supposed to be graduating but can't because I…well failed!) and hand it in for a September deadline and graduate then. I've been pretty down about it as you could probably guess and I know it's my own fault. I've been really quite angry and upset with myself! I passed the animation part of it, it was just a written section for a measly 20 of the overall marks that let me down and I am seriously kicking myself in the ass for it.

Oh well, guess it can't be helped now. Just gotta pull my socks up and get into gear over the summer…while trying to find full time work…

Argh!

Well, this chapter is only short and a just an attempt to get me back into the swing of writing. I know it's really bad but there we have it. It's just a warm up chapter really.

Thankies for all of your reviews for the last few chapters, I promise that they'll get better again after this stupid one is out of the way.

Okay, Happy Reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 23: Offending the Car Gods.

Following dinner the house had erupted into a mass of chaotic bodies, scrambling around and out of each other's way as they went about their business. Yells and hollers filled the sun-bleached wooden house and thundering footsteps sounded in a continuous stream up and down the stairs.

Frankie rolled her eyes from where she stood, hands submerged in a rapidly cooling sink full of soapy water, scrubbing at the many dishes that had been left for her to clear up. It was her night to do them after all, as her father had so annoyingly pointed out, and even the excuse of having an essay due in for the very next day could not get her out of the mundane task.

Donni rushed through the kitchen, depositing her clothes, dirty from mucking out the horses, in the wash basket beside her niece, and at the same moment attempting to straighten out her short black, 80's style 'rah-rah skirt' that was a favourite of the customers in the bar, or so Frankie had heard from her rather disgruntled father. _The_ skirt had certainly grabbed the attention of both Leon and Vince it seemed, and Frankie stifled a giggle as Tino stalked past the two men as they stood by the open back door, conversing quietly while shooting glances at Donni as she dashed back and forth like a woman possessed.

She really had to laugh at her father's overprotective antics. After all Donni was 27, coming up for 28 actually. A fully grown woman in her own rights. She had lived her life on her own since she had turned eighteen, on her way to travelling the length and breadth of the country before Tino had contacted her with the news that his wife, Frankie's mother, had eloped with the teenage postman from down the road. Donni had dropped everything to be there for her brother and niece, putting her 21 year old dreams of seeing the world on hold and moving back down to San Felipe, back into the house that she had grown up in.

"Frankie! Have you seen my black sandals?" Donni called from where she crouched underneath he stairs, digging through the seemingly endless piles of shoes that they owned, breaking Frankie from her remembrance.

"By the front door, where you kicked them on Friday night, announcing that you were never wearing them again because they were agonising." Frankie called over her shoulder and Donni gave a snort, muttering about her niece being a smart ass as she moved away to retrieve them. Sometimes, Frankie felt like the only adult in her house, having to look out for her father and aunt. More often than not she was the one that knew the whereabouts of Donni's favourite pair of shoes, or her dad's truck keys which he had dropped into his work boot the night before with the intention of keeping them safe and then forgetting where he had put them. Most of the time she gained a wicked enjoyment from watching the two adults run around the house as if their heads had been lopped off their bodies, desperately searching for the artefacts that they had misplaced until she called smugly where they could be found.

She sighed and glanced over her shoulder at the other's in the room. Leon had hobbled to the sofa where Jesse was staring devoutly at the television screen, engrossed in an old episode of the "A Team" and Vince had taken it upon himself to trim his beard with a pair of Donni's old nail scissors in the middle of the room, glancing at his reflection in the windows of the backdoor whilst waiting for Donni to finish readying herself.

"Yo, Donni?" he called absentmindedly, twisting his head back and forth to admire his handiwork. "Get the lead out! I thought you were supposed to open up a nine?"

Donni cursed at him in a mixture of Spanish, Italian and English from where she knelt beneath the stairs, fumbling around for her bag.

"I am!" she snarled, straightening and brushing down her skirt again and moving towards where he stood smoothing down his more respectable looking beard with a finger and thumb. His dark blue gaze flickered to her face as she delved into her bag and retrieved her car keys, beaming and holding them up in triumph. "Alright! Ready. Let's go." she paused briefly, glancing around the room and a dark looked passed over her lightly made-up face. "Great! Just flaming great!" she growled under her breath, twisting her wrist to glance at her watch. "Where the hell is Letty!"

Frankie bit back a snort of amusement that caused her aunt to swing her incensed glare in her direction and the young girl swallowed her smile, pointing to the stairs with a soapy hand.

"Uncle Dom and Letty disappeared up stairs about half an hour ago." she mumbled, attempting to keep the laughter out of her voice and Donni's frown deepened as she spun back to Vince, arms raised in exasperation.

"Wonderful! Absolutely fan-fucking-tastic!" she seethed to Vince. "Twice in one bleeding day! You'd think they were pissing rabbit's the way they go at it!" she stormed towards the stairs and Vince's amused watch turned to concern.

"Erm, Don?" he called and she paused waiting for him to continue. Vince rubbed at his neck, wincing in slight discomfort. "Y'see…when Dom an' Lett…ah, yeah…they like to…y'know…not be disturbed. Ain't pretty if you do." he warned sheepishly and Donni glanced up the stairs to the room of the pair in question, her face twisted into a dubious grimace.

"Y'know what, Vince?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow. "I don't give a shit!"

Vince cringed as the raven haired woman continued her thunderous way up the stairs and shuffled to the front door where he could escape the brunt of Dom and Letty's fury at having their…recreation interfered with.

The hammering on the bedroom door resounded through the entire house as did Donni's hollers that if Letty didn't extract her ass from the seditious arms of her baby cousin that very instant, she would fire that ass faster than Letty could say 'Job Seeker's Allowance'.

Needless to say the younger girl flew from the bedroom, dragging her fingers through her tussled hair and straightening her scarlet vest top and denim skirt, muttering and scowling at Donni's reproachful face.

"Resistance, Letty, it's all about resisting temptation!" Donni announced with a smug grin, flitting back down the stairs and to where Vince was covering up his laughter with his scarred hand. "And timing."

"Whatever, let's just go already." Letty snapped, folding her arms across her chest as she reached the bottom of the stairs, shooting a withering glare at Vince who immediately fell silent.

"Hang on, kiddo." Tino called, glancing up from where he had been watching the TV along with Leon and Jesse. He stood and jogged to the base of the stairs, bellowing up to Dom who had not resurfaced after Letty had disappeared. "Hey, Dom. Fancy a drink at the expense of my sister's business?" he glanced back and countered Donni's fuming stare with a wink and a roguish grin that made her roll her eyes and swing the front door open.

"Sure thing, Ti." Dom called in reply and Donni shook her head, motioning for Vince and Letty to follow her out to the front of the house.

"My brother is such an asshole." she growled under her breath as she continued to stalk towards where her car was parked, completely unaware that both of her new employees had stopped mid-stride to gape at her car. She fumbled to fit the key in the door and unlocked it with a great thunking noise.

"Oh, hell no, girl!" Vince cried shaking his head in horror and Donni looked at him curiously.

"What?" she demanded, looking about her for what he was talking about. "What's the matter?"

Vince clicked his tongue in admonishment while all Letty was able to do was stare at the grotesque little brown car in disgust.

"I _know_ you ain't driving a Chevy Citation!" he chuckled in disbelief.

Donni looked completely lost, glancing back and forth between Vince, Letty and her small, rusty vehicle. "Erm…yeah, I am." she replied, confused. "What's the deal? It's just a car."

Vince looked genuinely appalled and turned to Letty for confirmation of what he had just heard.

"J-j-j…jus-ss…just a-a-a-" he stammered and Letty nodded her head at him, patting him on the shoulder consolingly.

"I know, V. I know man.!" she replied. "Donni, chica. We gotta get you a better car!"

Donni shrugged in nonchalance, turning her back to them and continuing to open the driver's side door. "Whatever. It gets me from a to z."

"It'll get you killed is what it'll do!" Vince snorted in revulsion. "Besides. It's a Citation for Christ's sake! Do you have no taste in cars woman?"

Donni turned and rested her back against the dinted side of the car, one arm draped across the top of the open door and the other across the bowing roof. She shrugged again, her features betraying that she genuinely couldn't have cared less about whether she was driving a Ferrari or a trash can on wheels and Vince staggered backwards, mouth gaping, placing a hand over his heart as if he'd been shot.

"Not everyone lives for a bit of metal on wheels, Vince." Donni said suddenly. "There's more to life than oil and exhausts."

"That's blasphemy, girl!" Vince warned, pointing a finger accusingly at her. "I ain't getting' in no Citation. Shit, I'd crawl there on my hands and knees before I sit in that pile of crap!" he stalked forwards, grabbing Donni by her wrist and dragging her away from the dingy vehicle, slamming the door shut with a foot. "We're taking _my _car!" he announced and Donni glanced desperately at Letty for help.

"Sorry, Donni." Letty sighed, raising her hands in helplessness. "You offended the car gods…and you disturbed me when I was getting it on." she gave a wicked smirk and cocked her head to the side in triumph. "You deserve what punishment you get."

Donni muttered under her breath as Vince continued to drag her towards his Honda Civic where Tino and a fully clothed Dom stood waiting patiently.

"I'm taking Donni in my car!" Vince announced as they two men glanced up from their conversation. "She needs to be taught about the wonders of the automobile!"

Dom chuckled and Tino raised his eyebrows at Vince's irritated glare.

"You showed him the Citation, didn't you?" Dom grinned and Donni scowled, tugging her arm from Vince's grip, crossing her arms and tossing her ebony hair back.

"It's my car!" she growled. "It gets me from home to work and back again in one piece. It isn't a frigging fashion parade! I don't even like cars! If I could walk to work then I would, except Tino has a cow every time I even think about it."

"Too right!" her brother injected, staunchly. "I'm not having my sister wandering the streets at four o'clock in the morning! Who knows what type of psycho's are out and about at that time of the morning!"

Donni sighed and shook her head. "Can we just go, please? I'm already late for opening and I'm sick and tired of talking about shitting cars!"

-00000-

Well there you have it. Sorry it's so bad but I just need to get back into the grove of writing after such a long stint away from the keyboard. Hope it's not too bad and if you have any hints, tips or ideas how to make it better then please tell me.


	24. Chapter 24: No Strings

Well, here is chapter 24. A completely Vince/Donni chapter. I felt like I needed one to explain their situation a little more as I have kinda been focusing on Dom and Letty quite a lot. I know it's a little soon to have them develop something but the way I see it is that neither Vince nor Donni are one to hang around. They've both been round the block a few times and…well…I guess you'll have to read the chapter to find out what they decide to do.

I'm not too sure where the next chapter is going after this. I know I need another Tran chapter but after that I'm gonna be jumping ahead in time a few months or something as I've been pretty much chronicling the events day by day and that gets a little boring after a while, no? Plus I want to actually have the birth of Mia's baby in this story so I'd better look to speeding things up a little bit.

Righto, Thankies to **pips24 **for your review, I really appreciate your kind words!

Okay, Happy Reading.

Gem

xxx

Chapter 24: No Strings.

Donni beamed up at Vince as he neared the bar where she was currently slogging her guts out cleaning it's surface of the booze, food and other less identifiable substances left behind by the nights many customers. His blue eyes smiled right back at her. That was the thing that she like about him the most. The thing that had intrigued her about him in the first place that very morning. Not the many tattoos, not the power just lurking beneath his taut, though somewhat sunburnt, skin. Not even his roguish, blundering charm. It was his eyes, plain and simple.

Some men that she had dated barely showed any feelings at all, their smiles all false and never reaching to their eyes. Vince's wild blue gaze, however, was overflowing with emotions too numerous to mention, to even attempt to identify them all, his thoughts and desires only barely concealed, if at all. That was _exactly_ what had drawn Donni to him, pulled her into his orbit where she seemed content to be.

Sure, his eyes and his openness weren't the _only_ thing that she found herself warming to, no, not by a long shot. He was funny and good looking to say the least. He was even caring, whereas many of her ex's had only cared for themselves. Yet, he still managed to be distinctly, completely and utterly male. Totally a man's man. Man_ly_! Though not as overpoweringly so as she thought her baby cousin, Dom was.

She watched his grin flicker upon his lips, twisting them in a quirky, lopsided manner lighting his deep blue eyes further if that was at all possible. Yep, Vincent Keller was a _whole _new breed of man.

"S'up, Donni-girl?" he queried, stopping before her on the opposite side of the bar than he had been working all night, leaning his weight forwards onto his elbows. While Letty had had a rough night attempting to get into the swing of working the bar, her pride bristling every time a customer demanded another drink or shot her a lewd comment, Vince had taken to his new occupation like a duck to water and before long he was pulling pints like a pro.

Donni felt her own smile growing, more genuine than it had been in years, as she turned to replace a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels onto the shelf behind her.

"Not much, Vince." she replied with a shrug, stretching to reach the shelf and very aware of Vince's stare that scorched into her tanned back as her white vest top rode up. "How d'you like my bar?" she turned back to face him with a smirk, tossing her cleaning cloth onto the bar beside him with a sharp schlapping noise.

Vince's grin darted sideways again as he looked her up and down, not even bothering to disguise what he was up to. Honesty. He was an honest man as well. Not a quality often found in good looking men.

"The more I see of it…" he responded with a deep throated chuckle, slapping one hand onto the bar next to Donni's cleaning rag. "…the more I'm likin' it."

Donni shook her head and laughed, moving forwards to shove him in the shoulder lightly, knowing that he wasn't talking about her business anymore.

"Yeah…" she growled with amused suspicion leaning forwards onto the bar in front of Vince, narrowing her eyes at him. "What's up, Vince? Why aren't you over there having a celebratory drink with my idiot brother and Dom and Letty? I've been closing up and cleaning the bar for a good few years on my own. One more night ain't gonna kill me." she questioned, cocking her head to one side to consider his reply.

Vince leaned in closer to her, motioning her forwards with a crooked finger as if he was about to share a valuable secret with her. "I don't think your brother likes me very much." he whispered conspiratorially and Donni tossed her head back with a snort.

"Well, you did lay into him pretty roughly from what I heard from Letty and my Cuz." she chuckled, raising an eyebrow knowingly. "But that's not it. Why are you over here _really_? I've heard many a tale of you from Dom saying that you never turn a drink down."

Vince looked down at the bar top to his right and shrugged his shoulders, his movements coming together to make him seem bashful, though Donni knew he was anything but a shrinking violet.

"Dunno." he said finally, flashing her a devilish grin. "Just thought I'd come over here and talk to you for a bit."

Donni's face showed him that she blatantly did not believe his pitiful explanations and so he raised his hands in defeat.

"Alright! Alright! Damn woman! You caught me!" he growled before lowering his head so that he could whisper in her ear, quietening his voice so that it was little more than a rumble from deep within his throat. "Come on, we've been diggin' on each other all day. Don't deny it. How 'bout you let me do something about it an' take you out sometime, huh? Whaddaya say?" he pulled away ever so slightly, just enough so that he could gauge her reaction to his suggestion, watching deep in her eyes for some flicker of acceptance or the reverse.

Donni smiled as though she was about to gently reprimand a child for misunderstanding something, meeting his hopeful stare with her own glance that was decidedly dubious.

"Vince." she began in a low voice to match his. "You do know that I am almost four years your senior, don't you?" she queried, fighting to keep her tone light, though beneath it could be heard the fear of a rejection now that he had found out how old she was. She needed to test him, though. To find out if he was just the same as all the others. So many men had beat a hasty retreat after learning that she was a few years older than them, some not even stopping long enough to let her down gently, but Vince instead beamed wider than before, his tongue darting out from between his lips to wet them. He shrugged his broad, tattooed shoulders, feigning nonchalance.

"I like a woman with experience." was his response and Donni felt her mouth flap open and her cheeks burn red. However, before she could splutter something in return, Vince chuckled to himself and continued. "Get's a bit boring being the only one with a bit of stamina and knowledge in the relationship. Perhaps you could teach the ol' Coyote a few tricks."

Donni didn't know what to say. Her mouth still hung open until he reached his hand up and snapped it shut with a firm finger under her chin, making her blush a second time. She could only stand and consider him and they remained in silence for several long moments before she finally found her voice, speaking with seriousness.

"I'm not looking to be tied down anytime soon, Vince. I'm sorry." she apologised. "I've spent my entire adult life, since I turned eighteen, always being someone's girl. Never myself, always Marco's girl or Ricardo's woman or Paul's girlfriend. Never once was I just plain Donni." she paused for a second, searching Vince's face for any signs of anger, for the sudden change in his demeanour that she thought was likely to come after her admission but he only continued his wonderful smile, listening to her intently. "I've been single for almost three years now and I was enjoying it."

"Was?" Vince asked curiously, attempting to conceal his triumphant smile and Donni brushed her long, dark hair from her face, attempting to hide the growing flush on her cheeks. "Ah, I thought so." he continued like she had spoken, nodding to himself as if her actions had confirmed something to him. His dark sapphire gaze sparkled at her as he tilted towards her again. "Ain't nothing wrong with a bit of fun now and then, chica. It's not like we're getting' hitched or nothing'." he moved his large, work roughened hand that had closed her wide, surprised mouth previously, up to brush her ebony hair back as she had done seconds before, with a flick of his fingers. His warm fingertips rested on her cheek for a moment longer then he returned his arms to folding onto the work counter that was separating them. "Look, I've spent _my_ entire adult life thinking that I was in love with someone who wasn't in love with me. She doesn't even like me very much most of the time and all I seem to do is piss her off. She only puts up with me 'cause she has to. Sure, I've had my fair share of women," he paused to take a steadying breath, his gaze flitting up to meet Donni's briefly and then he resumed his watch as his fingers fiddled with a rogue beer mat that had escaped the clean up. "But I've never had _this _feeling before…"

Donni's eyes widened in panic and she shot back from Vince as if she had been stung, raising her hands in a warding away gesture.

"Shit, Vince!" her voice was a desperate, shocked hiss. "I only just met you like today! I can't-"

"No, no, no." Vince interrupted, rapidly, shaking his hands in front of her. "Shit, I should have explained myself better than that. Sorry." he shot her a grin and slowly the 'rabbit caught between the headlights' look began to ebb from her features. "What I meant was, I've never had someone who was interested in me for _me_. It was always coz I knew Dom, or I won some dumb race or some bullshit like that. So this is all new to me." he paused and then loosed a wild barking laugh. "Fuck! Did you think I was professing my undying love, or something like that?"

Donni placed her hand to her heart and let out a deep, rushing breath of air as if she was relieved. "Erm…yeah!" she retorted. "Scared the hell out of me! Jesus H. Christ!"

Vince continued to laugh, throwing his head back and clinging firmly to the edge of the bar to steady himself.

"Donni, you are fucking priceless!" he snorted but he sobered somewhat, calming his outburst of hilarity to merely an amused grin. "I don't think I know what love _is _so I can't very well be _in_ it."

"True, true." Donni replied, rubbing her slender hand across her forehead slowly. "Ditto." she watched, quietly knowing that he wanted to say more and something inside her made her want to listen to him, even if he had almost just given her a heart attack! "So? What are you suggesting?" she asked finally when he remained silent, cocking an eyebrow at his hesitance.

Vince shook his head in bewilderment. "I really don't know…" he sighed. "But what I _do_ know, is that we got something going on…" his smile broadened and he took a step backwards, spreading his arms and inviting Donni to take a look at him. That coaxed a smile from her own lips and it evolved slowly into a light chuckle.

"Alright, Vince, I'll give you that." she admitted, jovially. "We got _something_. Whether that's insanity on _both_ our parts, I dunno but…" she halted, her amber eyes sparking slightly as she looked over him a second time. "…we got something."

The rugged man before her gave a relieved breath, one that he had been holding while he listened to her speak and it was followed by another one-sided curl of his lips.

"So, I guess I'm suggesting that we roll with it. Have a little fun. No serious shit." his large, art emblazoned shoulders jerked up and down in another vague shrug. "Go out for a drink…or six. Go dancing', though I can't dance. Party our asses off a little-whatever the hell takes our fancy."

"And if one of us gets cold feet? Wants out? What then?" Donni reasoned, folding her arms across her chest and leaning her head to one side.

"That's the beauty of it." he countered with a grin. "We call it quits. We're honest, up front. No sneakin' around horseshit, look where that got Dom an' Lett." he inhaled deeply, the air still smoggy from the many smokers that had graced the bar that night with their presence. "We do what we want, when we want but if one of us doesn't like it, we agree to respect that."

Donni nodded, carefully, thoughtfully, contemplating his words. It sounded tempting. Being single for three years, while it had been something that she had needed to do, had left her missing the feeling of being someone's _someone_! However, she didn't want to get into a relationship just for the sake of having one.

"That sounds an awful lot like an open relationship, Vince. I've done the whole spreading myself around. I've _been_ the other woman before and no matter what you say about it being just a bit of fun, nothing serious, I don't want to be in that position again."

"Nor do I." Vince responded gently but lightening fast. "I figured that it was time to take a good, long look at my life when _Dom _started calling me a man-whore!"

Donni had to laugh at that. The thought of Dom lecturing _anyone_ about being a man-whore was absurd when Dom himself had hopped more beds in the four years between the age of sixteen and when he had gotten together with Letty, than Donni had sold cold beers in the entire time of her running the bar.

"I ain't kiddin' neither!" Vince continued, deadly serious, raising his eyebrows and making Donni laugh harder until she had to clutch at the pain in her stomach. "But truthfully, I'm not gonna be hussy-grabbin' anytime in the near future, Don. I want more in my life. I think Dom's little proposition for Lett tonight made me wake up a bit. They're not going to want me hanging around forever, cramping their style, as much as I love them and they love me. And I want something more than just getting pissed, getting laid with some random chick and then working on some car with a blazing hangover day in, day out."

Donni crossed her arms again, breathing in deeply through her nose and fixing Vince with a knowing stare. "But, you still want to have a bit of fun…with me." she stated rather than asked, turning Vince's smile wolfish. "Oh, don't worry. I know how it is!"

"Come on, Donni. Don't even try to say you don't want a piece of the Coyote!" he hooked his thumbs into the strap of his dark green vest top and pulled them, letting them snap back against his shoulders as if he wore a pair of suspenders.

Donni gave a snort of dubious amusement though she did nothing to deny his accusations, simply smiling right back at him.

"Lets just see how it goes, huh?" he said, his mischievousness gone for the moment. "See what happens?"

Silence, save for the raucous chattering going on between Dom, Letty and Tino in the background, fell about the two as the considered each other, Vince with hope in his eyes and Donni trying to make her decision. It was a long moment before she could reply, nodding her head in small, jerky bobs. She liked Vince. She liked him a hell of a lot more than some of the _boneheads _that she had dated in the past. That was a start at least…and she couldn't lie. She'd take a piece of the 'Coyote', as he called himself, _any day_!

"Alright, Vince." she said finally with a more sure smile. "I'm up for it."

He beamed in response, trying and failing not to seem too pleased that he'd gotten his way.

"Hey, who knows? We might even fall in love…" he teased, waggling his eyebrows and causing Donni to roll her eyes and shove him in the shoulder.

"Don't push it!" she shot back, tossing her previously forgotten cleaning cloth at his face though he managed to catch it before it hit him full pelt. "So? What are we like a couple now?" she chuckled, trying to keep the mood light but Vince shook his head with seriousness.

"Nah. You don't want to be someone's girl. And I don't think I can be someone's man right now…" his eyes shifted upwards to the ceiling or towards heaven, she didn't know, as if he was looking for answers from some higher power. Slowly, his stare crawled back down to her and he gave a one-shouldered shrug and a lopsided grin. "We're just…Donni and Vince. Out to have good time…no strings attached."

"No strings?" Donni repeated, retrieving her cloth from him and resuming her work.

"No strings." he confirmed.

Donni smiled down at the bar top. "I like the sound of that."

-00000-

Well, how interesting. You know Mia's gonna have a fit when she finds out about their little…arrangement. Poor Mia…I'm going to have to ease up on her a little, I mean I did make her pregnant…and kick Brian out of the picture…and Dom won't let her work…so she has no money…aw, I feel sorry for her now. I'm so wicked. Hmmm, who else can I torture? I feel my Letty-twist coming up soon (dun, dun, duuuuuuuun!) Please gimme a review…If you feel like it that is…


	25. Chapter 25: In Transit

Oh…My…God! I'm so sorry for not updating in like million years! Life's been hectic and with things going wrong for me on my degree I kinda had to re-evaluate my life. S'okay now though, I got my first commission for a painting. Woohoo! Fingers crossed it goes well and if you know anyone who wants a painting done tell 'em I'm their girl!

Right, sorry this chapter is sooooooo short. Like majorly short. I'm really starting to resent having to write the Tran bits. I think they're all a little melodramatic. Lets have a vote. What do you reckon? Ditch Lance and his Lackey's? Or keep 'em in? I dunno. I'm so stuck with them. I know I'm not paying that part of the story enough attention but I'm getting ready to do a big one on Letty and the Mia thing has to develop, I mean she's gonna be popping out her sprog soon! And then there's Donni and Vince and Frankie and Jesse and Tino…well, I won't say anything about Tino just yet…Plus the garage and Dom and Letty's partnership. Do you think that I'm attemting too much with adding in the Tran's?

Okay, thankies for all of your reviews all those millions of months ago when I last posted. I'm gonna try and get back on track and stay on top of it all.

Oh yeah, the title (which I might say makes me giggle a lot) is my attempt at being witty, lol! Sorry about it's corniness!

Happy Reading.

Gem

xxx

Chapter 25: In Transit.

The air outside the car boiled and shimmered, writhing with the heat, coaxed into a barely visible dancing mirage of water, coming alive of it's own accord. The unrelenting sun beat down with growing intensity and it was unbearable, even from the tiny amount that he had wound down the window. Scalding hot air roared in through that two inch gap, tainting the fresh, icy-cool breeze emitted by the jaguar's air conditioning system.

It would have, admittedly, been much simpler for him to fly down to his destination. Probably cheaper as well, but Lance had never been one for flying. Just the thought of trusting the great, man-made metal bird with his life, thousands of feet in the air, made him giddy, his stomach lurching and a cold sweat breaking out over the back of his neck.

Everyone was entitled to have their phobias and no matter how scared of his Uncle, Lance was, he was far more nervous of aeroplanes.

Besides, driving down to Baja was less likely to draw attention to him and the, now four remaining bruiser's who served his Uncle. Four large, muscled men with various scars, crooked noses and missing teeth were a sight to behold anywhere in the country, looking as if they would be more at home in a prison cell than calmly boarding a plane or browsing the confectionary stands within the airport.

Lance's mind shifted briefly to the previous month's events, back to what had occurred into what used to be Toretto's garage. It was nothing more than an empty, charred shell now, blackened and depressing for all who looked upon it. The final resting place for the incompetent Finney. Finney's death, while Lance had not directly caused it with his own bare hands, had been the direct result of his orders. He had, technically, killed the man, though an annoying and inept man he had been, and Lance had been assaulted with a curious mixture of guilt and pride. He had killed a man. _He_ had _killed_ another _man_! The guilt, however, he had shirked long weeks ago when he had recalled his visit to his Uncle's residence.

Hikaru's last words to him upon that day played themselves continuously though his mind as if telling him that what he had done was okay, was acceptable if he wanted to survive in this game.

_'There may still be hope for you yet, nephew."_

And perhaps there was truth to those words. Perhaps he could become like Hikaru Tran. Maybe he would take his dead cousin's place as the older man's successor in his business and power…And just maybe Hikaru would tire of him and kill him, as he had so many people, in his due time. The more that little Jia Li grew up the exact carbon-copy of her father, the more likely it looked as if she would inherit the family legacy. And there was no doubt in Lance's mind that she would rule with an iron fist, as harshly as he dear father did.

Everything hung in the balance. Lay upon a knife's edge. It was possible, just barely possible, that if Lance succeeded in his mission of destroying Toretto, if he did so amazingly, with a flare that his Uncle would appreciate, he could blow Jia Li's competition out of the water and save his own life in the process. Maybe…

In the end, it all came down to what was about to go down in San Felipe. In San Felipe, Lance Tran would be made…or broken.

-00000-

Sorry it's so short. I should have the next instalment out by tomorrow at the latest…some time tonight at the earliest. I'm gonna work on it and see how far I get. Lemme know what you think. I'm starting to get bored of the Tran storyline but what can I do?


	26. Chapter 26: Busted

Next chapter. It's a helluva lot longer than 25 (thank god!) but I'm still unsure about what to do with the Tran's. I guess I'll see how it goes until I get up to needing to put their next chapter in.

This one is just a bit of fun…and more Dom/Letty. Gee, d'ya think I'm obsessed? It's a month or so down the line from chap 24 so Mia is by now 3months up the duff.

Thankies for your continuing reviews, you know I love them and appreciate them so much. Please give me your thoughts on this chappie.

**Spiralling out of Control- **Thanks ever so much for your thoughts on what I should do. I'm still a little unsure but I do have the Tran part of the story vaguely planned out. Some of your suggestions are very close to what I'm actually planning if I keep them in…what do they say? Great minds think alike! Lol! I'm glad that you're liking the story though, and any more ideas or thoughts you have to make it better please let me know!

**a- **Here is that next post. Sorry for leaving it so long last time but I had a bit of shit with university. My own fault really…anyway hope you like this chapter. I know you love the Dom/Letty stuff so this is for you! Oh yeah, "sprog" (giggles to self) that's just me being totally British and common as muck. It's a liverpudlian slang word for child or kid. I usually use it when I'm saying that someone is pregnant "She's sprogged up!" hahaha! That's just me being a scouser! Sorry.

Okay, Happy Reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 26: Busted.

The bar was stifling hot. It was unbearable to say the least and so Letty had, taking Donni's example, given up her leather pants and miniskirts in favour of a more comfortable and cooling pair of loose fitting linen shorts and a cropped vest top. Sure, it left little to the imagination and had earned her more propositions and lewd remarks than a hooker would have gotten on Hollywood Boulevard. But there was no possible way, no physical way at all that she could have coped with working in such climates in her usual attire. Besides she knew that the comments were all made in good fun, not one was serious and she laughed along with the regulars, shooting back sharp comments of her own.

Dom, for one, had not been amused but she'd worn less out in public before, back in L.A. Though admittedly no one had dared to even breath in her direction as Dom's reputation for letting his fists do the talking, preceded him.

Down in San Felipe, however, most of the men gracing the bar were tourists from the many far corners of the globe, though there were a few regulars, and Dom's sterling rep wasn't world wide…yet. It was plausible that after a few more bawdy comments and offers and he would most likely be off on a wild and blind killing spree that would ensure that every single man alive would know his name.

Letty shook her head, smirking to herself as she worked.

It had taken a while, damn it had taken her a good four weeks, but eventually Letty had eased herself into the life of working the bar at Donni's. Vince was enjoying himself more than he had in years and she quite frequently found herself thinking that perhaps their 'Ol' Coyote' had found his true calling in the bar and the bar's owner. Sure, Dom, Tino and Leon were all still oblivious to the little relationship that had sprung up between the two but they were men and blind to most things unless they were to do with cars, women, food, alcohol or came up and bit them on the ass.

It was likely that if Dom found out about Donni and Vince he'd take it upon himself to give V the "Break her heart, break your neck" speech that was seriously becoming old very fast. He'd already given that one to Jesse about Frankie after seeing their friendship growing at an alarming rate. A long time ago he'd given that warning to Brian but he'd never had the chance to follow through with that threat since the man was long since gone, hightailing it from L.A faster than they had. And Brian _had_ broken Mia's heart…so badly that she had not seemed like her usual self in months. Perhaps that had something to do with the baby that was growing larger within her by the day. The child that was never likely to know his or her father, not if Dom had anything to do with it anyway.

Plus, if Dom ever did find out, Tino, who was currently oblivious to his sister's latest choice of man, would not be left in the dark for very long. The pair were like long lost brothers, closer than cousins. Tino was the older brother that Dom had always been for Mia, but had never had for himself. It did him good to have someone to look up to for a change instead of everyone looking to him.

Tino would no doubt blow a head gasket when he found out, so the quieter it was kept the better for them all really, considering the fight that he and Vince had participated in upon their first meeting and that had been tame!

Letty had known about Donni and Vince almost immediately. She'd always know things like that. Been able to read people well. Mia had told her hundreds of time that she could have made one hell of a psychologist but Letty didn't have the time nor the patience for school and college. She'd left that up to Mia and now they were leaving it up to Frankie who wanted to go to university to study English literature and art. They had talked about Mia returning to school after the baby came but the fierce Italian young woman had shook her head, arguing that just because she'd messed up her own life didn't give her the right to mess up her child's by pissing off to college to better herself. She was a strong believer in the notion that a mother should be there for her child until they were ready to spread their wings and fly the nest and perhaps that had come from her mother's death at such an early age. Mia had been the matriarch in the Toretto household from the tender age of eight and so it was only understandable that she would want something more for her child.

Letty wasn't wholeheartedly in accordance with her upon that subject though. She couldn't imagine putting her entire life on hold just for a baby, but she did admire Mia's commitment, her staunchness, holding true to her beliefs when faced with Dom and his "my way, no highway option" attitude.

The soon-to-be-mother had won in the end when Letty had entered the fracas, too sick of hearing them yelling at each other, as they had taken to doing quite frequently over the past month, about the pro's and con's of Mia finishing her education.

"_Dom_!" Letty had roared, silencing him instantly from where she stood before the mirror, fixing her hair hastily for work that evening. She had glared at him through that mirror, only needing to give him that one single glance that said '_Give it a rest or you'll regret it later!_' and he'd relinquished his argument and stormed away to sulk, not even gracing them with his presence to see Letty, Vince and Donni off to work.

He was such a baby at times and Letty smiled as she worked, collecting bottles and used pint glasses from the tables, returning them to the bar top eliciting a series of musical clinks as she disentangled her fingers from around their necks. Donni met her with a grin and tossed her a wink.

"Thanks, Kiddo." the older woman sighed, the bar quiet for the first time that night, clasping them in her hands and moving them through to the back room where Vince was complaining about landing washing up duty for the forth time that week.

Letty leaned onto the counter for a moment, taking a respite for the first time all evening, watching through the doorway as Donni tossed the used bottles into the bin and settled the next lot of glasses down for Vince to clean and he grumbled at her under his breath, earning him a firm slap on the ass.

Letty snorted and shook her head. Yes, the pair had been inseparable ever since that first night that they had ventured down to 'Donni's' to learn the ropes. Something had gone on that night while they had stood huddled together over the counter, talking conspiratorially. A few days later and it had been obvious to her what exactly had gone on.

It was good for them, she had decided finally, unsure in the beginning whether she was happy with the little development. Vince was a named and unashamed lady's man, making his way through more women in a week than 'Soft Joe' and all they needed was for him to pull one of his usual stunts while he was with Donni, checking out other chicks, sleeping around and they'd all be out on their ears, no doubt. But Donni seemed to be keeping Coyote in check. Oh, sure the older woman had admitted herself that she'd had her fun in the past and Letty wasn't debating the fact the Donni probably had as much of a reputation as Vince did, but they seemed to counter out each other's more outrageous tendencies. It seemed that they were having too much fun together to even consider anyone else in that equation.

Letty chuckled to herself, candidly watching their antics within what they thought was the safety of the bar kitchen. Splashing water at each other like a pair of naughty children, they were completely oblivious to the fact that anyone else was within a thousand mile radius of them at that moment.

That had been how it was with her and Dom at the very beginning of their relationship, although admittedly they had been kids, barely sixteen and twenty just turned, not twenty four and twenty seven like Donni and V.

She smirked again, taking a bottle of beer from behind the bar and popping the cap, enjoying the taste as the malty liquid slithered down her parched throat. That was the one thing that she enjoyed the most about working the bar at 'Donni's', she had the choice of several top label beers rather than being forced to consume only Dom's favourite of a Corona. Actually, when Letty thought about it, she preferred drinking an ice cold Heineken to anything else.

"Can I get a beer too, huh, Miss?" a voice asked from behind her, a hot breath on her neck, causing fear and shock to jolt like electricity through her entire body.

"Jesus Christ!" she gasped turning to face him, a hand pressed firmly to her heart attempting to still it's panicked beating. "You scared the snot outta me, man!"

He chuckled at her reaction, laying his security guard's jacket down onto the bar top beside her. "Sorry. Can I get that beer? Rough night, y'know."

Letty narrowed her eyes, folding her arms across her chest and giving a slightly mischievous smile as he plopped himself onto a barstool wearily, still glancing at her.

"I'm afraid we're closing in about…" she twisted her wrist to glance languidly at the watch that she had sniped from Leon when he had been couch-ridden with his injuries. "Three minutes and twenty three seconds." her smile quirked to one side as he rubbed a hand over his dirty, shaven head, hair growth from the day and night giving it a faint shadow.

It was their game. While they didn't fool around like a couple of teenagers as Vince and Donni did, they had their amusing little role-plays. It was always the same. He'd come in to the bar from working the night shift as a security guard for the building site that Tino worked on, and they would pretend like he was a customer, that she'd never seen him before in her life. It was stupid, but it reminded her of how they had been before the shit had gone down.

Dom's eyes were tired from a night of work, as were her own, but they sparked back to life when she grinned and followed through with their little ritual.

"That means you're still open then, doesn't it?" he countered quickly.

Letty laughed, winding her arms about his neck and planting a kiss upon the crown of his head, unable to keep the charade up for any longer that night. Sometimes the game lasted until Dom got his drink. Other times it last all the way home…and other times it lasted all night. It all depended upon their moods and tonight, Letty just wanted to be with him.

"You want a Corona, I take it?" she queried, pulling herself up to sit on the bar and leaning over to grab a bottle for him.

Dom only flashed her a grin, downing the drink handed to him in seconds, his throat moving and constricting as he swallowed each time. It was empty before Letty could blink and he placed it down onto the bar with a crack, turning to wrap his arms about Letty's waist and bury his face into her stomach.

"Rough night, baby?" she queried, leaning her weight back onto one hand while the other smoothed over Dom's scalp in a comforting caress.

"You have no idea." he mumbled, his voice muffled as he pressed his face fully into her stomach, the sound reverberating through the bare skin of her belly. "Some cock little shits thought it'd be fun to try and brick all of the new windows that have just been fitted in the show-houses. When I stopped 'em the little fuckers tried to stone me!"

Letty sighed trying her hardest to conceal her concern for him, that would only lead to another argument between them about how she hated that he was a night security guard and all alone on the building site until his relief came and swapped shifts at 4:00am. She curled her arm, clasping his head, cradling it to her more tightly, attempting to sooth away his worries and stress.

"You know what I feel about you working the night shift." she replied finally and firmly and Dom snorted into her midriff before placing a kiss there and pulling away to glance up at her.

"We need the money." he stated, toying with the hem on the leg of her soft, linen shorts. "Besides, it's the same way I feel about you working the night shift in this damn bar." he retorted, suddenly self-righteous and Letty rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

"Hey!" Donni growled from the doorway to the backrooms and the kitchen, fists planted firmly upon her hips with an angry expression on her face. "That's _my_ 'damn bar' you're badmouthing, Bucko!" she snarled fiercely. "You may have sprouted over the years but that doesn't mean that I can't still kick your ass like I did when we were kids!"

Letty laughed out loud, letting her head fall back against her shoulders as the proud, triumphant woman returned through the doorway, leaving Dom scowling in her wake.

"She really used to beat you up?" she asked incredulously and attempting to stifle her laughter, though not very successfully. Dom turned his glower onto her briefly before sniffing indignantly.

"Every God damned summer when me and Tino wouldn't include her in our games."

"You mean bastards!" Letty snorted with a wide, amused grin.

Donni's laughter at Letty's comment floated out into the bar and coaxed a tired smile from Dom.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up _Donnatella_!" he roared back and she swore at him, harshly, in Italian, only serving to make his smile wider and more triumphant. "She's so easy to wind up."

"I can hear you, y'know." she snapped, popping her head around the doorframe and frowning. After a pause she tossed her dish-towel back into the kitchen and considered her younger cousin and his girl simply sitting combined in an exhausted embrace. "You two wanna head off back to the house?" she asked and Letty turned to glimpse her over her shoulder.

"You sure, chica? I know I should be helping' you out cleanin' up and shit, but I'm just so dog-tired tonight."

Donni waved her concern away with a flick of her hand. "Nah, I don't mind. Vince and I can finish up a few things here. Ain't much to do really." she smiled in reply, leaning against the doorframe. "Go on." she continued watching the guilt induced hesitance flit across the younger girl's features. "Tonight we were shit busy, but you more so. You know the customers like you best, Kiddo." a sly light filtered into her amber gaze. "They like the way you shake your ass when you're collecting the glasses."

"Who like's Letty's ass?" Dom demanded with a furious growl, his head shooting bolt upright like a periscope. "Who you been shakin' your ass for?" his fingers grasped tightly, possessively at her hips and Letty huffed, gritting her teeth together in frustration.

"Relax, Dom. It was dancing. You know, moving a little in time to the music while I worked." his face retained it's enraged glare and Letty smirked, running her hands over his stubbly head again. "C'mon, Dom. Shit! I only shake my ass for you, baby." she winked at him suggestively and slowly his face regained some semblance of peace.

"Yeah." he responded with a deep growl, sliding her forwards on the bar so that he could return his face to her torso, entwining his arms firmly about her waist. "Lets keep it that way."

"Go on, you two." Donni interrupted causing them to realise that she was still standing there. "Take a load off…before you made me chuck up my dinner!"

The younger girl's smile was an appreciative, tired one of relief. She slipped from the bar and onto Dom's lap with a thud and an "ooff" of pain from Dom.

"Thanks Donni. I owe you one girl." she sighed wearily as Dom stood and tried to peel her off him and set her onto her own two feet. Finally, unsuccessful in his attempts to remove the 'Letty-Limpet' from his body, he hefted her up a little higher, making it easier for him to carry her. She secured her legs about his waist pleased that she had gotten her own way, resting her chin on his shoulder as he moved towards the bar's exit.

"See you back home, Donni. Make sure Vince looks after you." Dom called back over his shoulder and Letty snorted, her grin turning devilish as Dom twisted his back to Donni so that Letty was face-to-face with her.

"Yeah, Don. Make sure V looks after you _real _well." she teased with a cheeky insinuation and Donni felt the cold of dread seep down over her as if someone had just doused her with ice water.

Letty knew. Letty knew and was grinning smugly about it as if she had known from the very beginning. As if she had suspected it all along and had known before either Donni or Vince had known themselves.

"See you later, Donni-girl. Don't do anything _I _wouldn't do!" Letty sing-songed with a wink as the door swung closed, blocking the horrified face of Donni from view.

-00000-

What d'you reckon? Still needing to know what to do bout the Tran's. Next chapter is likely to be Mia and the rest of the team. Or maybe a Frankie/ Jesse chapter…I've kinda been neglecting the kiddies. Please review!


	27. Chapter 27: Petnames and Plans of Attack

Well, here is the next chapter in which Donni is seriously confusing. Up and down like a yoyo that girl. I'm not really over keen on this chapter actually but I thought I'd put it up coz it took me all day in work to write it. Do you like or hate? Ideas are greatly welcomed!

Thankies for all of your reviews over the last two chapters and as the majority seem to think that the trans must go…I think they're going. I'll need to keep them in the beginning because the were the reason that V and Leon actually went down to Baja early and Leon got beat up. Unless I majorl re-write this I don't see how I'm gonna get around chopping them out without damaging the story too much. Ideas peeps?

Thankies especially to **Jada91, a, and pips24 **for your reviews!

Okey-kokey, Happy Reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 27: Pet Names and Plans of Attack.

Donni was frozen to the spot, unable to move entirely for several minutes after Letty had left wrapped, quite literally, around her baby cousin. She stared after them at the door, hoping beyond all futile hope that Letty had not spoken those last words to her out of smug knowledge. Perhaps, Donni thought with a severely misplaced optimism, Letty had simply been being Letty, the teasing, feisty young woman who threw out more sexual innuendos than most men did. However, the sparkle that had ignited Letty's eyes had not gone unnoticed by Donni and she knew that, with a distinct sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, her first instinct had been right. Dead, band on the head. Letty knew.

"Fuck!" she groaned out loud, leaning forwards and curling her body over so that she could fold her arms across the bar and rest her suddenly heavy head upon them. She just hoped, prayed, that Letty could keep her mouth shut. All she needed was both Tino and Dom to find out and Vince would no doubt be in for a double tanning.

Why the hell she was concerned about what her brother and younger cousin thought about her fraternization with Vince was beyond her entirely. Really, she was an adult. 27 years old. Definitely more than capable of making her own decisions about her own life…and yet, the concern was there, stronger than ever, pooling icily in her belly making it feel as though a squadron of Spitfires were shooting around in circles, never mind butterflies!

"Fuck!" Donni growled into her arms again, louder and more forcefully. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, scrubbing her forehead into her arms a little harder until her nose brushed the warm, pungent wood of the bar top.

"Thought you'd never ask me, Sugar." Vince's teasing voice called from the doorway, his smirk clearly audible in his deep, growling tone.

Donni remained, face pressed down, hunched over the bar for long seconds before she mumbled something in reply.

"What was that, Petal? You gotta speak up." Vince queried, stepping away from where he stood, propping up the doorframe much as Donni had earlier that night whilst bantering with Dom. He sidled up next to her, resting his weight onto one elbow and glancing down at her still covered face.

Donni rolled her head to one side, fixing him with a one amber-eyed glare, nostrils flaring in slight annoyance.

"I said, stop staring at my ass!" she responded with a shrewd, un-amused look, causing Vince to wince and rub the back of his head. "Don't even deny it, Bucko."

Finally, Vince swallowed his embarrassment at having been caught and shrugged, feigning nonchalance.

"I can't help it if you got the damn thing stuck out in the air. Ain't that hard to miss, it's such a-"

Donni straightened with a jolt, scowling and jabbing a finger mercilessly into Vince's chest.

"You finish that sentence and I swear to God, Vincent, I'll kick you so hard that your balls will end up in your throat!" she snarled and Vince swallowed, raising his hands in the gesture for surrender.

"I was gonna say, it's such a fine ass!" he gabbled and Donni narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"Yeah, I'm sure you were…" she allowed finally.

"What!" Vince demanded nervously and Donni shook her head with a grin.

"I'm just fuckin' with you, Vince." she chuckled, turning to begin the task of cleaning down the grubby bar that was sticky with dried beer.

"I know _that_, Precious." he replied with his own devilish smirk, tossing her a suggestive wink and Donni rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"I said fuckin' _with_ you, not fuckin' _you_!" she illuminated drawing a barking laugh from the Coyote's lips. "And I'm never likely to anytime in the foreseeable future if you keep this up."

That stopped Vince short, his wild laughter dying mid-hoot in his throat as he studied her with wary blue eyes.

"Come on, Sugar, don't pretend you don't wanna piece of my ass. Thought we'd established that before?" he purred, slipping his heavily tattooed and scarred arms around her waist, drawing her back flush against his chest. "And don't you go telling no lies, Pickle, 'coz I know just 'coz we ain't gotten down to it yet, it's not through lack of trying. We just not got no place in that house of yours. Not without giving everyone else a bit of a show, anyway."

Donni stilled in Vince's embrace, stiffening slightly.

"You're mighty presumptuous tonight, Mr. Keller." she sniped. "What makes you think that at _any _point over the last few weeks that I have _ever_ wanted to sleep with you?" there was an incredulous twinge to her voice that Vince didn't like. What was meant to be a bit of fun for them both was rapidly going downhill and he didn't think he could stand it if he and Donni started hating each other because of a stupid comment. His pride, however, was still bristling at her sudden change of heart and eventually that side of him won over the more cautious side.

"Erm, the rips in my favourite shirt?" Vince retorted with a snort, taking a step back from her and disentangling his arms from about her waist. "Com eon, don't say you don't want to, you do. I see it in your eyes. It's just we keep getting interrupted." he placed a large hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him. "You're blowin' hot and cold, Donni-girl, and I don't want for you to wake up one morning and regret the night before. It's gotta be what both of us want, remember? And I'm getting confused with all these conflicting signals."

Donni's frown deepened and she made to turn away from him only to be stopped by his hand on her arm.

"Just drop it, Vince." she spat. "Perhaps we should call it a day before anyone gets hurt and we end up hating each other's guts."

Vince cocked an eyebrow at the slight, Italian woman who had, moments before, been flirting with him ruthlessly in the bar kitchen.

"Alright, tell me what's happened." he sighed. "Someone's said something, haven't they? Was it Leon? I'll fucking slaughter him if he's said something! What was it? What did he say? Was it something about what I was like back in L.A? Did he tell you someth-"

"Jesus, Vince, calm down!" Donni cried as his grip on her upper arms became tighter with each word and his face redder, from lack of oxygen and anger, by the second. "Take a breath, _Tesoro_, before your head pops like a balloon!"

Vince seemed to snap out of his rant and shook his head as if to clear it. He relinquished his desperate hold on her and scrubbed at his forehead, tiredly.

"Just tell me what it is, Chica. I'm getting tired of this game."

Donni sighed, sounding as exhausted as Vince looked, pulling herself to sit atop the bar much as Letty had earlier. Letty. It was all her damn fault for being too damn perceptive!

"Letty knows." she said with a second similarly as weary sigh. "And if she tells Dom, Dom will tell my brother and you are gonna get another hiding. He'll make both our lives hell, Vince, until he warms up to the idea. I wanted to break it to him slowly. Not by Letty shouting her fat mouth off!" it was Donni's turn for her mouth to run away with her and she took a deep breath when she had finished, replenishing her air intake.

Vince heaved a sigh of relief and smiled, moving towards the bar and wrapping his arms securely about Donni's waist again.

"You had me shitting ma pants then, Girl. Don't _do_ shit like that to me!" he grinned and despite herself, Donni return that grin, linking her arms loosely about his neck and her legs about his waist, crossing her legs at the ankles behind him to keep them in place.

"I dunno what you're so happy for, Bucko. We're about to be ratted out and you're gonna get the overprotective brother bullshit from Tino _and_ Dom." she snorted, spurring her heels into his backside wickedly.

Vince shrugged.

"I'd take any beating they got to offer me for you, Pickle." he beamed goofily but Donni looked un-amused at both his blasé manner and his continuing pet-names. "Besides, I'll talk to Lett and get her to keep it on the down low. She owes me one for Lending her and Dom my car last Wednesday."

"And if she's already told Dom?" Donni shot back like lightening. "What then, _Genio_?"

Vince's wide smile spread again and he brushed tousled hair back from Donni's irate face, smoothing his work callused hand through her long, ebony tresses and down her back.

"Then we ask Letty to get him distracted until you break the news to Tino…gently. You know that she's always looking for an excuse to get my boy into that bed."

Donni raised her eyebrows in accordance.

"Oh, you're telling me! Thank God that it's usually when Frankie's at school. Someone oughta tell them to tone it down. Neither one's going anywhere fast."

"Hey, you try telling an angry, horny Letty to keep it strictly PG-13. Just doesn't work." Vince responded with a nasal snort and Donni laughed, combing her fingers through his unruly, lengthening, mousy-brown hair. She liked his hair longer, even though she'd only seen photo's on Jesse's laptop of how he had looked back in L.A with his hair clipped closer to his head.

"So," Vince spoke after a long, though not uncomfortable pause. He bent his knees slightly so that he could dip his head and look up and catch Donni's bright amber gaze that had fallen away from him. "We're good now, yeah, Pick-"

"I swear to God, Vince, if you call me 'Pickle' one more friggin' time, I'll-" Donni growled.

"I know, I know! Balls in throat. Got it…Muffin."

Donni retaliated with a strangled cry of frustration and defeat, raising her hands from his shoulders to the ceiling in desperation.

"Why me?" she cried to some higher power. "Why pet names like 'Pickle' and 'Muffin'?"

"Why not?" Vince shot back, defiantly. "My cousin had a cat called Pickle and a dog called Muffin."

Donni rolled her eyes.

"You're using the name of your cousin's pets for terms of endearment?" she asked incredulously and Vince replied with a sheepish shrug. "Wonderful! Next thing I know, you'll be calling me Watermelon after your cousin's budgerigar!"

Vince scoffed at that, jabbing a finger into her side playfully and making her squirm.

"Don't be stupid." he snorted. "My cousin's budgie was called Kitten."

Donni stared at him in disbelief, unsure if he was pulling her leg but his face remained deadly serious.

"Kitten?" she asked and he nodded earnestly. "For a bird?" again Vince nodded. "Riiiiiight…" she said slowly, her eyebrows drawn together hardly disguising the fact that she currently thought that he was insane. Finally she shrugged. "To each their own, I guess. I'm liking Kitten better than Pickle."

"Kitten it is then."

-00000-

Reviews pleasy-weasy! You know I love them and need them to get better.


	28. Chapter 28:And They Called it Puppy Love

Chap 28. I like this chap. I've kinda been neglecting Frankie and jesse for a while now so I thought they needed another chapter. The vince section will continue in the next chapter. I was going to put it at the end of this one but I'm getting tired now (it is like 01:18am over here in the uk) and I'm baking hot. Freakishly hot british weather is never good because we're all so used to the rain, lol! I spent all day in work complaining with the customers.

Please tell me what you think of this chapter and thankies for reviewing that last one. I will do thankies shout outs next chapter but as I said I have a pillow and a bed that are calling my name at the moment. You know I love you all for reviewing!

Happy Reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 28: And They Called it Puppy Love.

Donni had made Vince swear upon the 'life' of his car to stay awake until Letty ventured downstairs the next morning. She usually needed a bathroom and water break at about half six, seven o'clock and stayed to have breakfast and chat with Frankie, Jesse, Tino and Mia before returning to the depths of the room belonging to her and Dom, not to be seen again until Mia or Donni began preparing lunch.

And so awake he remained. On his creaking camp bed, quite literally lying in wait, ready to pounce on Letty before she could spout her "fat mouth2, as Donni had so politely put it, off to anyone and cause trouble.

Leon's nasal sounding snores ricocheted about the wide lower story of the house, emanating from the sofa that had become his home. It hadn't taken him long to heal up enough to move around by himself and following weeks of constant fussing and babying from Mia and Donni the younger man was completely back to his former self. He had received no sympathy whatsoever from Letty, though, who had simply snorted at the complaining, injured man, telling him to _'suck it up, soldier and stop being a pansy!'_. And he had…eventually.

Movement from above drew Vince's contemplations away from the recovery of his friend and to the cracked ceiling. It was Frankie. She was always the first to surface in the mornings, scrambling about her room frantically if it was a school day. That day, however, was a Saturday and though she didn't have school to worry about, she was still up at the crack of dawn to take her turn at cleaning out the horses.

She crept down the stairs as quietly as she could, footsteps soft and padding, until she reached the bottom and tripped over her father's steel toe capped work boots, muttering an Italian curse and making Vince sit up from where he had been trying to rest without giving in to the need for slumber.

"Sorry, Vince." she hissed in a whisper apologetically. "My stupido Padre left his boots on the bottom stair again."

"S'alright, Girlie." Vince grunted out a chuckle, waving a hand dismissively at her concern. "I was awake anyway."

Frankie smiled widely and tugged her dark brown waves of hair into a messy ponytail before retrieving her ankle-length riding boots and helmet from beneath the stairs.

"Goin' for a trot on your little pony again, huh, Kiddo?" Vince queried pulling yesterday's shirt on over his head and standing with a stretch and a yawn.

"Horse, _Vincent_." she replied cheekily and Vince fixed her with a less than amused glare. "I'm going to exercise my _horse_."

"Vincent?" he scoffed, very nearly with disgust. "Kid, you better get out that back door before I take you over my knee!" he joked and Frankie stuck her tongue out at him in a childish retort.

"Yeah, you do that, _Vincent_, and my dad will beat you up…again!" her grin was wide and teasing as she spoke, skipping from the house and out into the back yard leaving Vince glowering after her retreating form.

"Cheeky brat!" he hollered after her, shaking his head as he moved to the kitchen counter intent on a high caffeine intake that would help him to stay awake.

Moments later, like clockwork as he usually was after hearing Frankie up and about, Jesse staggered down the stairs also stumbling over Tino's size ten boots and hissing the same Italian curse that Frankie had before him. She was definitely rubbing off on him and Vince smiled at that. Jesse had never been so taken with a girl before…ever! He was clearly smitten, even if he didn't realise it himself, following her around, stuttering and stumbling over his words more so than usual. And when the girl wasn't there or was at school, every other sentence was about her, cutting down the computer and car jargon that he usually spouted.

"You're up early, Einstein." Vince called with a barely controlled laugh from the kitchen area and Jesse started with surprise.

"Shit, V. You scared the crap outta me!" he gabbled breathlessly only making Vince chuckle harder.

"You got it bad-style, Boy, if you didn't see me or hear me moving round this kitchen."

Jesse looked slightly confused but the pink tinge to his cheeks told Vince that the younger man knew exactly what he was talking about. Still, Jesse had decided to play dumb.

"Dunno what you mean, V." Jesse shrugged, moving to get himself a glass of water in an attempt to cool his raging blush.

"You know what I mean." Vince replied, teasingly, his grin only widening with the more uncomfortable Jesse looked. He leaned his weight back onto the kitchen counter and studied his younger companion until Jesse growled and slammed his glass down with a loud crack.

"Fuck off, Vince! I know what you're trying to do!" he snarled, storming for the doorway.

Vince only laughed harder at the teenager's strop and cleared his throat to croon a rather off key rendition of Donny Ormond's 'Puppy Love', earning him the finger and the backdoor slammed at him.

"Didn't think my singing was _that_ bad." he mumbled to himself, shrugging and resuming his quest for caffeine.

-00000-

Jesse scuffed the toes of his battered old trainers in the dusty dirt, kicking up smoggy red clouds as he stormed away from the house and Vince's jibes.

His hand fumbled desperately about in his deep jeans pockets, searching out his cigarettes and lighter. He almost sighed with relief as his hands closed around the cool metal of his cigarette rolling tin and he pulled it out as he perched himself atop the paddock fence as he had taken to doing most mornings.

Clamping one of the small, white sticks gently in between his teeth, Jesse thumbed on his lighter, touching the dancing flame to the end and bringing it to burningly with an ashy kiss and a puff of bluish smoke.

Oh, he'd needed that! Nicotine surged through his veins, curing his incessant craving if only for a little while. He wasn't really a heavy smoker. A normal twenty pack would last him a good four days with him smoking five a day. One first thing, a wake up call. One after coffee and breakfast. One after lunch. One after dinner. And the final one just before he turned in and surrendered to sleep.

As the smoke curled from his lips in dancing ribbons, dirty grey against the fiery, rising morning sun, he settled a little more comfortably into his seat, allowing his anger at Vince and embarrassment filter from him entirely as he considered the vast horizon before him.

Mountains rose up commandingly to his left, reaching out and up for the gentle blue of the sky that was seeping down, in turn, to meet them as the fierce glare of day break receded slowly. To his right lay the wide city of San Felipe, hugging tightly to the azure sea of the crescent moon shaped coastline. It's deep blue depths glittered as if a million diamonds floated upon the waves, capturing the last few brilliant orange moments of sunrise.

He'd never seen anything like it before in all his eighteen years. He'd lived his entire life deep in the heart of Los Angeles, amid the chaos and mayhem and exhaust fumes. Never once had he been out of state, let alone out of country and so he savoured moments of beauty like that breaking morning, storing each second in his memory forever so that when the bad times hit, as they always did and would continue to do, he would have something to draw peace from, peace and hope even if it was only from a memory.

"Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?" Frankie's voice came out of the blue, startling Jesse from his thoughts and making him wobble precariously upon the fence.

She laughed at him, softly, tugging on her riding helmet and fastening it securely beneath her chin.

Piccolino pranced excitedly within her stable, the little pinto mare anxious to be out in the fresh morning air and running.

"Sorry, Jess." Frankie apologised, though she continued to chuckle at his expense, moving to release Picco from her confines and grasping the reins tightly with one hand. She spoke in low, lulling tones, her free hand smoothing lovingly and soothingly down the brown and white of the mare's warm neck.

Jesse, finally finding his voice, grunted in response, taking another deep inhalation on his cigarette while watching as Frankie swund the paddock gate open, led Piccolino through and then closed it again firmly.

"Just thinking about stuff." he replied with a shrug after a long minute and Frankie smiled up from where she was tightening Picco's girth strap quite intently.

"About new stuff or L.A stuff?" she pondered out loud, standing up, flushed from her efforts and leaning her back against her horse's belly as she blew a stray wisp of hair from her face.

"About how nice it is down here, instead of being in L.A." he smiled back in return. "So a bit of both really."

Blowing again at her unruly hair, Frankie grinned.

"Converted you, have I?" she teased. "Turned you away from all of those stinky cars and endless roads, to the peace and quite of the wilderness."

"Not likely!" he snorted a retort out, puffing himself up indignantly and causing Frankie's grin to evolve into a chuckle. "Cars are my life! I can't wait for Dom to open the new garage."

The young girl before him gave an absentminded nod of reply, having lost interest in their conversation at the mere mention of cars, most of her attention diverted to lengthening the stirrups on Piccolino's saddle. Eventually she pulled herself up to sit astride the pinto mustang with a well practiced ease, slipping her toes into the metal footholds of the stirrups and pressing her heels down. She murmured to the horse in Italian, calming words as she patted her shoulder and combed fingers through her mane.

Jesse recognised her lack of interest immediately, for he was so often in the same situation. His attention was hard won by anything that did not involve cars or computers and he quite frequently earned the ire off all his team mates when he either paid little attention to their words and walked away from them while they were speaking to him or he ignored them completely, too enthralled in something that sparked his interest.

Jesse sniggered to himself, taking another drag on his cigarette and Frankie's gaze snapped back to him briefly.

"What's so funny?" she demanded and Jesse simply shrugged.

"You." he responded and laughed again when her olive green eyes darkened into a frown at him. "You really don't like cars, do you?" it was more of a statement than a question and Frankie just stared at him in irritated confusion, raising her dark eyebrows.

"So?" she queried, scowling again as his laugh resurfaced.

He scratched at his messy hair, still tousled from sleep.

"I've just never met anyone, who I've gotten on with, who doesn't like cars at all." he mused and Frankie loosed a rather un-lady-like grunt.

"You must've led a really boring life then." she replied, calming Picco again with smooth hands. "Everyone is different. That's what makes it fun meeting new people. I'd be so bored if I could only speak to people who like horses and art and stuff. It'd be dull if we were all the same." she ended with a shrug, entwining her fingers into the reins.

Jesse turned his face to stare at the dusty grass of the paddock, stubbing his cigarette butt out on the fence post beside him.

"I hate meeting new people." he said, his voice low in his throat. "They always look at me like I'm stupid or a freak. You never know when they're genuine, or when they're gonna shop you to the cops or send you up shit creak with no paddle!"

Frankie remained silent for several minutes after he had finished ranting until finally Jesse raised his head to gauge her reaction to his words.

"Are you done?" she sniffed, her eyes suddenly not as bright and cheerful as they had been before.

Jesse nodded in confirmation that he had.

"I guess if you hate meeting new people so much, you must've really hated meeting me! I mean, it's not like we have anything in common, so I don't know why you hang around with me so much." her tone was clipped and curt, an exact replica of how her father sounded when he was angry. When Jesse didn't respond immediately, Frankie gave an impatient sigh and rolled her eyes, allowing Piccolino to take off at a slow trot at first that quickly became a canter.

And he watched her go, mulling over her words and comments. He had never done so much intense thinking about anything other than cars, computers and his dad's prison sentence, in his entire life before he had met Frankie. With her, his mind seemed to settle from it's usual breakneck speed, holding onto one thought for longer than he'd ever imagined possible.

Frankie and Piccolino had made two circuits of the paddock by that time and were coming around for a third when Jesse leapt off the fence and dashed out into the horse's path. The mustang mare shied, tossing her head nervously and prancing sideways and away from him, eyes rolling white as she glared at him, nostrils flaring with his scent.

Frankie ranted at him in Italian, calling him every name under the sun as he reached out and grabbed Picco's reins making the mare toss her head again and release a panicked whinny.

"Do you have a death wish? Jesus Christ Almighty!" Frankie gasped, trying to tug the reins from his hands and manoeuvre around him, but to no avail. "Let go, Jesse!"

"I didn't mean you, Frank. You know that, right?" he queried and she hissed more Italian curses at him that would make her father's face pale if he heard her utter them. "Come on."

"No, no. I know how it is. No one gets to be in your little 'Team' unless they spend all day sucking diesel from exhaust pipes and unless you've known them since, like…_forever_!" she spat, eyes narrowed and wildly livid beneath her helmet.

Jesse sighed in defeat. She had no idea why the entire team was wary of strangers, Dom and Tino had deigned not to let her in on that one. But Jesse was faced by the choice of having Frankie hate him and Tino hate him even more, or the choice of telling her, a little bit at least, about what had happened back in L.A.

"If I tell you about why we're unsure of new people, about what happened in L.A, then will you believe me and not hate me?" he asked with a wince and Frankie stilled in her furious cursing and tugging to stare at him.

"Really?" she asked dubiously. "I thought dad and Uncle Don said I wasn't allowed to know."

Jesse shrugged.

"I won't tell them if you won't."

Frankie squealed, leaping down from Picco's back and throwing her arms about Jesse's neck, hugging herself to him tightly and forgetting entirely about that fact that she was supposed to be mad at him.

"You're really gonna tell me? Really?"

"Yeah, it's the only way to get you to stop cursing at me in Italian." Jesse laughed back as she squealed again and he placed his arms around her, hugging her back awkwardly. If Tino saw him at that moment in time, he would be dead meat…

"Okay, but I've got to finish exercising Picco first, then you can tell me everything!" she pulled away and turned to remount but paused, her foot halfway up to the stirrup. She glanced over her shoulder at Jesse who stood stroking the mare's face gently.

"Hey, Jess?" she questioned and he looked up at her. "How would you like to learn how to ride a _real_ mustang?"

-00000-

The end of chapter 28. Oooh getting' near to 30! Woohoo! Please read and review, I love it and love getting your ideas!


	29. Chapter 29: A Bone to Pick

Howdy, howdy, howdy! Long time no write, huh? Sorry 'bout that but I'm back, fresh from my hols and ready and raring to go, lol! I'm just a little happy at the moment as I have found out that I did not, in fact, fail my degree at all. On the contrary I did quite well considering that I did a full time course in part time hours. I passed! I have a degree and my tutor (stupid woman!) is deny that she ever told me that I failed! I dunno what she's on but I don 't care at the moment! Lol!

Anywho, the last few chapters have been…lacking something. I don't know what quite yet and this chapter isn't much better. But bare with me and hopefully they'll be getting better as the plot thickens.

Again comments and ideas are gratefully appreciated and thanks to all of you who are sticking with me and are continuing to read and review! Thanks to you all so much!

Righty, Happy Reading!

Gem

xxx

Chapter 29: A Bone to Pick.

Vince was quite content, pottering around the kitchen still humming 'Puppy Love' as he went. That song was liable to be stuck in his head for the rest of the day now and he only had himself to blame. It had been worth it though, just to see the infuriated look on Jesse's face. It made him chuckle to think about how smitten the younger man was and slowly his choice of song changed until he was whistling 'Addicted to Love' instead while _almost_ dancing as he concocted his breakfast.

Letty's deep laugh dragged him from his karaoke moment making his head snap around in her direction. She leaned languidly against the bottom most banister, one arm draped around it, one hand propped on her still pyjama clad hip as she smirked at him and his antics.

"_Someone's_ happy this morning." she teased, raising her eyebrows. "I wonder why…?" her voice managed to be sarcastic and jovial in the same instant. She was loving every single minute of torture that she was inflicting upon him, of that Vince had no doubt. He jabbed a finger at her accusingly.

"You!" he growled low in his throat, only making her amusement grow. "You and I need to have _words_, woman!"

Letty's mouth quirked into a taunting, sideways smirk as she sauntered towards him, grabbing half of the bacon sandwich that he had just slaved over.

"As good as that sounds, V, I think I'll take a rain-check." she laughed at her own wickedness before taking a large bite of her stolen breakfast and mumbling through her chewing. "Got a more _interesting _conversation with Dom planned for this morning."

"You dare, Letty! You fucking dare tell him and I'll kick your skinny ass!" his voice deepened again, dangerously, until it was little more than a guttural warning.

"Yeah, V. I'd like to see you try!" Letty continued, chuckling every so often between mouthfuls and swallows.

"I'm not shitting around, Letty." Vince responded and his serious, desperate tone drew her mirth-filled eyes up to meet his, sandwich pausing halfway to her open mouth.

"You know I'm only kidding, man, right?" she responded after a pause, slapping him lightly on the shoulder in an attempt to lighten the suddenly uncomfortable atmosphere, though his face remained stoic. "Jesus, Vince, I was just jokin' around! No need to be all uptight and pissy about it! I wasn't even going to _tell_ Dom about you and Don-"

Vince slapped his hand over Letty's mouth before she could finish her sentence and much to her annoyance as the sofa creaked and Leon sat up, blinking blearily around.

"I smell bacon." he grunted, scratching at his scruffy, tousled hair. "Do I get bacon?"

Vince slowly removed his hand from Letty's mouth, countering her irate scowl with a pointed glare of his own.

"Here, you can have mine, Lee." Vince said moving and placing his plate and food down onto Leon's lap.

"Thanks, dawg." Leon mumbled, scrubbing at his squinting green eyes but Vince had already crossed the room to the back door and was ushering Letty outside.

She folded her arms across her chest, stepping out into the growing heat of the morning and Vince grabbed her by her upper arm, directing her forcefully around the corner of the veranda and out of sight of the Jesse, Frankie and the back door.

"Care to be a little more discrete about this, huh, Lett?" he demanded sarcastically and Letty bristled, shrugging his hand from it's firm grip on her shoulder.

"Okay, Vince! Like, have a fucking _cow_, man!" she hissed back. "I was having a laugh, where's your sense of humour?"

Vince rubbed a hand across his bristly jaw, brows still drawn together into a frown.

"It's a big deal, Letty. You can't joke around when people's feelings are involved. You were gonna tell Dom, and don't even argue because we both know you can't keep _shit _from him. _He'd_ go and tell Tino and Donni would be in the doghouse and _I_ would get fucking punched in the face again!"

Letty snorted out a laugh but stopped at the furious look on Vince's features.

"I'm not laughing, Letty, please!" he warned.

"Okay, okay! Fucking Hell!" she snarled in return. "I don't know why you're so worried anyway. Something like this has never bothered you before and you hounded Mia for how many years with _Dom_ on your case?" she paused, watching as Vince shook his head and leant, arms folded, against the railings of the veranda. "Tino's gonna find out sooner or later, man, and you and Donni are both adults. You can go out if it's what you both want to do. Tino has no say over that."

"But he _does_, Letty!" Vince countered, turning to face her again. "Just like Dom has over you and Mia and all of us if we're honest about it and don't you deny it!" he pointed at her as she opened her mouth, taking a deep breath in order to protest. "Family are a big deal to Donni and Tino. They've only had each other to count on over the past, what? Ten years? If Tino disapproves of me and Donni it'll drive her crazy, but there will only be one choice in the long run and here's a newsflash, Letty-ain't gonna be me…" he gave a humourless laugh and watched as Letty's easily ignited temper fizzled out slowly. "If she breaks it to him slowly and gently though, there may be a chance that he'll get used to the idea."

"You really like her, huh?" Letty mused quietly and Vince replied with a wary, single nod of his head after a long pause. "I dunno, V." she sighed with a shrug. "I think Tino's gonna be protective of her no matter _when_ he finds out. He may even be more angry if he finds out it's been going on behind his back all this time."

Vince glanced down at her in concern and Letty smiled more gently than before in understanding, patting his shoulder comfortingly.

"Okay, V. I'll keep it quiet." she replied and a wide grin of relief spread across his face like wildfire. "Just give me a heads-up when you're gonna tell Dom and Tino."

"Why?" he queried dubiously and Letty's deep throated laugh sounded out loudly once again.

"Because! I want to have the popcorn ready for _that_ fight!" she taunted ducking away from his mock-swipe. "You owe me though, Vince. You owe me _big_ time!" she joked.

Vince scowled and rested his fist on his hips, waiting as the woman before him considered her demands carefully.

"Your car!" she grinned, proud of her ultimatum. "I get to borrow your car when I want to!"

"Hell no!" Vince barked back and Letty smirked, shrugging with exaggerated nonchalance.

"Okay, but I don't know how tight my lips are gonna be sealed…"

Vince growled between his teeth, dark blue eyes narrowed as he made to snap a smart retort but a high pitched squeal stopped them both where they stood, turning their heads in the direction the sound originated.

Footsteps pelting out a run on the dusty ground first and then the wood of the veranda steps echoed around and Frankie dashed into view, her features and voice a mixture somewhere between uncontrollable panic and hysterical laughter.

"Jesse…Jesse's just fallen off Piccolino." she gabbled, suppressing her sniggers.

"What the fuck was he doing _on _the horse in the first place? He can't ride!" Letty demanded incredulously and the teenager winced, wringing her hands together.

"I was…um…teaching him?" she offered with an apologetic smile and Letty rolled her eyes in exasperation causing Frankie's temper to flare at being reprimanded. "It's not even my fault!"

"Is he hurt?" Letty queried ignoring the outburst and Frankie shrugged sullenly. "Well, can he move?" again the girl shrugged and Letty growled in irritation, cursing the hormones that made teenage girls so difficult to deal with. "Just…go get your uncle Dom, will you?" she huffed finally and Frankie disappeared into the house, scuffing her riding boots as she went.

"Teenagers, huh?" Vince sighed and Letty made a grunt of agreement. "C'mon. Let's go and see what damage the 'Boy Wonder' has done to himself _this_ time."

-00000-

She closed the window gently and as quietly as she could, ducking out of view as Vince and Letty wandered across the dusty yard and into the grassy paddock where Jesse was struggling to sit up and rubbing his head.

Slowly, so that she wouldn't lose her balance in her suddenly dizzy state, she moved back from the window entirely, wobbling slightly and ending up sat on the floor anyway. Her legs simply couldn't hold her. They seemed incapable of doing so, shaking as they were.

Blood thundered in her ears in great whooshing crashes, underneath which a familiar ringing started. A ringing that told her that she was going to pass out. Her skin was clammy with cold sweat and her vision began to blur into darkness around the edges.

Distantly she was aware of Frankie dashing up the stairs and rapping on Dom's bedroom door, that was next to where she was sat in the bathroom on the floor. The young girl's voice blared out but her mind couldn't comprehend what she was saying or Dom's reply. She didn't even register when the pair raced back down the stairs and out into the yard hollering and cursing as they went. She didn't care either. She didn't, at that moment in time, care that Jesse had fallen from the back of a horse. She didn't care that she should go down there and help out with her medical knowledge. She didn't care about a single thing in that moment. All she could do was stare at the cracked plaster of the wall, a single thought rising achingly in her mind.

She'd lost him…He loved her cousin…

-00000-

The plot thickens. Warning this is the start of some major changes for the Team. There's going to be some tough times ahead but I'm going to start introducing them subtly. Watch out for little bits here and there at first. I wonder if anyone can guess where I'm heading with all this?


End file.
